NekoChan
by HarvestMoonRacoon
Summary: Our imaginations have more power then we realize. LeeOC. Small mentions of LeexSakura, which abruptly end in Chapter 11.STORY COMPLETE.
1. Prolouge

_I can help you.  
_

Sniffling, the child looked up from where her head had been buried in her arms, green eyes still leaking hot tears onto the dust of the ground.  
"Who.. What?" she asked, in a voice that reeked of a child's innocence.

_I said, 'I can help you'_

The child looked around in all directions, before realizing the figure's standing place.

_Why are you crying?_

The child sniffled again.  
"Everybody hates me." she said, lip trembling, and nose dripping.

_Why do they hate you?  
_

… I.. I don't know…" she whispered, before a fresh sob pealed from her burning throat.

_… You shouldn't cry_

"Why?" she asked.

_Because when you cry, it only hurts you. Crying does nothing, really.  
_

The child shuddered as she repressed another sob. Maybe it was right.  
She sniffed, telling herself sniffing wasn't crying.

_Now, why are you so sad, little one?_

"..Everybody hates me"

_Oh. I'm sure not everyone hates you…_

"Yes, they do." she said, her strained voice accented with a youth's sorrow.

_Doesn't anyone love you? Anyone at all?_

"No"

_That's very sad. Poor little child…  
_

"Who are you?"

_I am who you want me to be._

"What?"

_I'm whoever you want me to be. I am whatever you think I am._

".. Where are you?" the child said, looking around again. "I don't see you anywhere"

_Do you believe I'm real?_

".. Well, yes. Of course you're real. How else could I be talking to you"

_Then you should be able to see me._

The child squinted her eyes shut, lips twisting up in a scowl as sweat beaded on her face.  
"Oh. There you are"

_Do I look like what you expected?_

"Kind of. I figured you'd be more brown"

Aren't I?

"Oh! Now you are!" the child said, happily.

_See? I am whoever you want me to be._

"…. Are you gonna leave, too"

_What?  
_

"Are you gonna leave me, too? Like Mama, and daddy, and everyone"

_Silly, of course not._

"Really?" Joy shone through the dark green eyes.

_No. I'll always be here for you._

"Promise?"

_Promise._

"Yeah! This is great!" she shouted, jumping to her feet.

_It is. I've never had a friend as nice as you before.  
_

"Me neither. I've never had a real friend"

I can be your best friend.

"Will you?" she asked, trying valiantly not to let her hope rise.

_Of course._

"Yay!" she yelled, jumping up and down in a childish act of joy.

_Ha-ha. You certainly are a joyful one._

"Not really. You're the best thing that's happened in a long time to me"

_You think so?_

"Yes"

_Ha-ha. Well then, tell me more about you._

"Me?"

Yes. "Well, OK. My name is Rian"

_Rian? That's a nice name._

"It means 'darkness'" she explained, deadpan.

_Do you like it?_

"Yeah. I like the dark." she smiled slightly at this.

_I like the dark, too._

"It's great, isn't it? You can hide from everybody, and no one knows you're even there! They can't hurt or anything!"

_I'll make sure no one ver hurts you. Whether it's light or dark._

"Really? Thanks!"

_That's what friends are for._

"… Hey. What's your name?"

_You can call me whatever you like._

**Author: OK, I know it was short, but, have some faith in me! It will get better! Or my name's not HMR!**


	2. Neko and Me

**Author's Note: Yes, this chapter is way late. But, on that humor kick, I almost forgot about Neko-Chan! Oh noes!**

**So, anyway, enjoy chapter two. Number three should be done soon. I PROMISE.**

Sharp green eyes scanned the fenced-in area surrounding the academy, scrutinizing the children madly running about and yelling, releasing pent energy for the day. Fingers languidly curled around the chain mail of the fence had long since gone numb from gripping the wire so hard.

_They're disgusting, aren't they?_

"No. They're not." she said, eyes still squinting at the scene before her.

_Well, I think they are._

"No worse then me"

_Why, I wonder, do they ignore you?_

"Maybe because I never pay them any attention"

_Well, when you do, they shun you, same as always._

"Hm." was the muffled response, as the child rocked back and forth on her heels.  
_.. Well, only another day of this._

"Oh yeah, that's right, tomorrow's graduation day." she said, smiling slightly, but not averting her eyes from the madness of energetic children.

_Yes._

"…." There was silence between them for a moment.

"Hey, Neko-Chan?"

_Yes?_

"When I become a ninja, will you still be with me?"

_Of course._

The silence was broken by a simple nod, and a small curve of lips that could be interpreted as a smile on the part of the girl.  
Had it really been so short of years since Neko first came to her, she wondered, in her secret thoughts that even Neko-Chan could not see.

She had been a lonely, lonely child before Neko-Chan came and took up residence.  
Then again, a four year old is bound to accept any attention from anything, even if it has four heads and worships cereal boxes. Children are like that.  
The suffocating need for attention and love, whether false or real, in the Shinobi world, is often their downfall. And even when children are hurt by the ones they love, they pretend the harm isn't there, because they want to believe the "love" they receive is true.

And that is why so many children are emotionally and physically scarred in the Shinobi world.

But, Rian had minimal scars. She had the kindness of Neko-Chan to fall back on all the time.

A gust of wind blew in from the endless forests around Kohana, ruffling heads.  
Rian had grown much since she first met Neko-Chan, and in many ways.

But Neko-Chan was still her best friend. He had no other name, only Neko-Chan. She always saw him as a cat, maybe because one of her earliest memories was of a cat. A dirty, black and white cat, cross-eyed and rooting through the garbage in that dark alley he left her in…

_Rian-San…_

"Hm? What is it, Neko-Chan?"

_Are you worried?_

"About what?"

_Graduation._

"No, not really." she said, looking up at a bird flying over the schoolyard. "Iruka-sensei is really easy on us, so I'm not worried. And, replications aren't that hard."

_Hm. I only wondered._

Rian wondered when the infernal "recess" would be over, and they could return to the classroom.

_6 minutes.  
_

"Thank you, Neko-Chan." Rian smiled. Neko-Chan sometimes seemed to know things before she asked them. Perhaps it was his residence inside her that allowed him this.

_Rian-San?_

"Yes?"

_Are you worried about your team?  
_

"Well, no. Except… I hope we don't get Maito Gai as a sensei"

_Ah. Yes, the man is a bit… erm,_

"Eccentric?"

_Eccentric. Thank you._

The child smiled again. Neko-Chan made her smile a lot.

_Wanna hear something?_

"Sure!"

_OK, a chuunin walks into a bar…_

"Rian."

The child whirled around, to face the man behind her.

"Oh, hai, Iruka-sensei." she said innocently, beaming up at him.  
Iruka's forehead was furrowed with worry lines. "Rian.. Who were you talking to?" he asked gently, in a prying tone.

The child smiled up at the furrowed face of her teacher. "No one"

Iruka dropped down to one knee in front of the small girl. "Rian, maybe you should go and try to talk to some of the other children. It's not good for you to be alone all the time..."  
The child's hands twisted behind her back as an innocent smile crept across her face.

"I like being by myself." she said flatly.

Iruka's eyebrows crept up, but he got to his feet, and was gone.  
Rian kept smiling until he was out of sight.

_Idiot._

"He is not, Neko-Chan"

_Heh, he's not fit to be a Shinobi. The man couldn't hurt a fly._

"Well, you do have a point"

Neko-Chan made a spitting noise, which Rian interpreted as disgust at Iruka-sensei's, er, "feminine delicacies".

He looks kind of like a girl, you know.

"Neko-Chan!" she squeaked, trying not to laugh. She tried not to poke fun at Iruka-sensei. But he was just so poke able, she lamented, trying to imagine Iruka in drag. It wasn't that hard.

So, after Neko-Chan quit howling with laughter, and Rian rolled off the ground, and wiped the tears of laughter from her face, and recess was over, they both tumbled back into the classroom and into that desk, they were still snorting every once in a while when they remembered.  
Rian found herself staring at Iruka as he lectured the class later that day.

She bit her lip and dug her fingers into her palms, she squinted and squirmed.

She kept repeating in her mind,_ I will not laugh, I will not laugh…_

But, Neko-Chan brought up that mental picture of Iruka in a dress, and it was all over.

**AN: Stay tuned...**


	3. The Yank is trouble

**Author's Note: Alright. Before anyone reads this and freaks out, yes. I killed TenTen off. I have nothing against her, it's just how the story goes. So, I'm not "TenTen Predjudiced" or anything. Second, Neji simply hates Rian. It'll be explained in teh next chapter why, although I think I made it obvious enough. Third, I actually like Gia. He's nice, and so jolly all the time. So, even though Rian doesn't particularly like him, I'm not Gai-Predjudiced, either.**

**And, also, yes, this is still a Lee/OC fic. Just be patient. As usual, Neko-Chan speaks in italics. **

".. And that's the last of the teams. Please join the rest of your cells and wait for your jounin instructors to arrive." Iruka said, scratching the scars across his nose "Class dismissed."  
There were groans across the classroom, some from relief, and some from unhappy new genin about their placements in groups. Rian fiddled with her forehead protector, resting her head on her free hand.  
_They never called your name._  
"I know, Neko-Chan." she whispered. She wished Neko-Chan wouldn't talk to her in class. It made it all the harder to keep Neko-Chan's presence concealed.

Neko-Chan had told her once that no one could ever find out he existed. When Rian asked why, he said simply that a twelve-year old wasn't supposed to have an imaginary friend. Rian shrugged it off, though she sometimes wondered why he said that.

After all, Neko-Chan wasn't imaginary. He was as real as the sunshine outside and as real as the green grass under it.  
All in all, Neko-Chan was confusing. But he was a friend, and friends didn't ask questions.

_Everyone's leaving._

"Well, better late then never." Rian raised her hand. Iruka straightened a few papers on his desk, and walked the children bustling out of their seats to where Rian sat.

"Hai, Rian-San?" he said, crouching down to Rian's eye level.  
"You didn't place me in a team." she stated plainly.Neko-Chan fidgeted. He didn't like it when Rian got close to people. It was like he thought people could see through Rian and see him.

"Hai. There's a reason for that"

"Did I not graduate?" Rian asked, in the innocent-child tone Neko-Chan had taught her.

"No, you did," Iruka smiled, tapping the metal piece of her headband. "See"

The chuunin slid into the desk next to Rian, and she slid over to make room for him. Neko-Chan spooked when Iruka's vest brushed Rian's side. His teeth bared and his yellow eyes lit up to the point where Rian grimaced. Neko-Chan hissed, and Rian glared at him, if that was possible.

"You're going to be placed on a team that graduated last year." Iruka explained, focusing all his attention on the thumbs he twiddled on the desk he sat at. Rian's eyebrows shot up, as did Neko-Chan's.

"See, they lost.. A member a few weeks ago. And we had an extra student, which is you, so"

"I got it." Rian said, sliding over the front of the desk and onto the floor.

Iruka looked the girl up and down. "Now, you're going to have to keep up with these kids. I have faith in you." he smiled at the girl that seemed too small to be thirteen.  
"Ahrigato." Rian said.

"Good." Iruka stood up from the seat where he knees had been almost bent up to his chest.

_Score_. Neko-Chan spat, and Rian smirked.

"You should probably go and meet your new team now. They'll be on Training Fi"

There was a sudden explosion of grey smoke in the room. Neko-Chan hacked, and Rian tried to hide a small cough. Iruka grimaced. Jounin always had to make such a show of themselves.  
Rian wiped her stinging eyes. The smoke was clinging and making her eyes water-

Suddenly, Rian was lifted off the ground and smashed into a green chest. There were two huge arms gripping her like an iron vice around her back.

Something was shaking her back and forth like a dog with a stuffed monkey. Her legs stuck straight out behind her as the thing shook her in some sort of violent embrace.  
The thing was squealing like a girl. Rian was suffocating against the green fabric.

Rian always hoped she'd be able to do a few things before she died. See Neko-Chan as a real cat. Fall in love. Become a chuunin. Live to the legal drinking age in Konoha.  
Oh well, she lamented. She was going to suffocate to death, on her first day as a genin. She only hoped Iruka would live to escape and warn the Black Ops of the oncoming danger before it destroyed the entire village. Or, worse yet, they lost another Hokage.

"Oh, Iruka! She is just in the Springtime of her Youth! The Flames of Youth burn like wild fire in her eyes"

Rian opened her eyes, even though all she saw was green.

Oh no. She knew that voice.

The "thing" released her, and she flopped to her feet. Iruka looked on helplessly.

"Oh! Look at her!" the green beast exclaimed again, proudly eyeing his new student.

Rian let out a sigh. Maito Gai.

Iruka glanced down. "Erm, Yes. Rian, this is-  
"Maito Gai." she finished, shoving a hand out to the Green Beast of Konoha. "Pleased to meet you, Sir.", she said with that innocent smile Neko-Chan had taught her. Gai gripped the child's hand and violently shook her whole arm up and down, as well as Rian's entire body. Her feet left the floor a few times before Gai released her arm.

"And it is a pleasure to meet you as well, my youthful student!" Gai exclaimed, beaming, teeth pinging.

**Great**, Rian winced. **Now he's not only ripped out my arms, he's blinded me as well.**  
She glanced down at her arms to make sure all her fingers were still there.

Iruka scratched the back of his head. "Well, Rian. You're going to be part of Maito Gai's cell from now on"  
_Rian, it's OK for you to commit suicide now._  
Rian ignored Neko-Chan, and smiled innocently again. "Great!"

Maito Gai made a loud exclamation of joy, and struck his pose. Iruka sidled off towards the door. "Well, I'll let you two get, acquainted. Goodbye, Rian!" the chuunin tried not to run down the hall and trying not to acknowledge Rian's desperate **_Don't-Leave-Me-Here-With-This-Lunatic_** Pleading Look™.  
But, Iruka's squeaking sandals disappeared down the hall, leaving Rian and Neko-Chan all alone with the Crazy Man.

But before Rian could open her mouth, Gai had grabbed her around the wrist and was dragging her out the door and down the hallways.

"Come, my youthful student! We shall meet with the rest of our youthful team, and from thenceforth excel in the arts of the Shinobi! Repeat after me, YOSH!"

"Erm," Rian said, narrowly evading a pole. "Yosh"

"AH!" Gai cried, "THE POWER OF YOUTH IS PRESENT IN YOUR VOICE!"

_Is he crying?_

Rian tried to get her feet back under her as Gai ran at top speeds across the yard and towards the numerous training grounds around Konoha.  
"Neko-Chan?"  
_Yes?_  
"Can I still commit suicide?"

Neji slumped against the wooden pole, arms crossed over his chest.  
The Hyuuga slumped against the pole, biting his lower lip, half in annoyance, half in boredom. Gai had declared that he and Lee were not to fight until he got back.  
He was really itching to spar with someone.

He half-considered taking on the squirrel chewing an acorn about ten feet from the pole, but decided against it.

With any luck, he'd get to whip the new genin today. He smiled, imagining kicking the genin kid's ass across the field. Or Lee. He could spar with Lee.  
Right about then, he was really considering disobeying Gai and fighting with Lee.

Or at least hitting him with something very hard over the head.

The spandex-clad nin was going to drive him up the wall. Or over the pole.

"Where, oh WHERE, has Gai-sensei gone off too!" the bowl-cut boy cried, tears water falling down his face like a broken water pipe.

"He'll be back." Neji said, trying to control the urge to turn the nin's face inside out.  
This, of course, did not comfort Lee. The Taijutsu master resumed his pacing.

"You're wearing a path in the grass." Neji hissed. My my, he was doing an amazing job of keeping his anger under control today, he lamented.  
"Fear not, Neji! For when our dear sensei has returned to us, I shall no longer be anxious!" Lee declared, with a dramatic swipe of his hand.

Neji sighed loudly. A chigger was nestling in the waistline of his shorts.

"Could you please just scan the area with your Byakugan? Please?" Lee asked.  
"No"  
"Pretty please?" Lee begged, dropping to his hands and knees, hands clasped together.  
"Fine." the Hyuuga snorted. "But only if you stop your pacing"  
"YAY!" Lee yelled, waving his fists in the air as Neji performed the hand seals.

After a few seconds, Neji's face crumpled and the veins constricted in his eyes. He glanced over onto the horizon, where the silhouette of Konohagakure sat peacefully.  
Lee bit his nails through the bandages, as one corner of Neji's lips folded down.

"He's coming"

"GAI-SENSEI!" Lee cried, taking off running in the direction of the Byakugan's glare.  
Neji shielded his face as the turf flew up in Lee's wake, pelting him with sod.

Neji sighed, and rolled up his sleeve.

He was going to turn Lee's face inside out, if only for his own amusement. He slapped at the chigger.

Rian had given up all hope of getting her legs back under her. She tried to make herself limp as Gai dragged her across the field, never ceasing the entire trip in his babbling.  
She, meanwhile, tried to have a conversation with Neko-Chan.

"How does he keep talking while he's running so fast"  
_Big nostrils._

So, of course, their conversation went nowhere.  
Gai finally seemed to be slowing down. Rian sighed, and gathered her feet beneath her.

Suddenly, the running stopped. I mean, stopped.  
Rian fell face-first onto the ground, flat on her stomach.

_Smooth move, slick.  
_

Gai kept running, but now, he was waving his arms wildly at his sides.

"He looks like a giant bird…" Rian commented dryly.  
_Watch out. He might take off…_  
Rian laughed, and jumped to her feet to watch the amusing spectacle.

She grimaced, and squinted at the horizon. There was another person running across the field, straight at Gai. Rian began walking closer, whether to watch them collide or see if Gai would be transformed into a Flying Nin **(pun people, pun!)** she didn't know.

Sure enough, the two figures collided. Well, really, a green flash ran into Gai.

"GAI-SENSEI!"

"LEE!"

"GAI-SENSEI!"

"LEE!"

_When did the sun start to set?_

Finally, Rian caught up with the two, who were embracing with tears streaming down their faces.  
Rian's eye twitched as she got a good look at them.

About this time, Byakugan deactivated, Neji wandered into the scene. He grimaced, wondering why Gai and Lee always had to make utter fools of themselves all the time.

Gai was wiping his eyes as his student clung to him.

"Oh, Gai-sensei! I had this awful premonition, and I was worried, and-

"What's that?" Neji said flatly, pointing to Rian.

Gai glanced in the direction of his student's finger, and laughed.  
"Ha! This is my new and youthful student.. Erm, what was your name again?"

"Rian."

"Rian! Rian, Rian! Yes!" Gai exclaimed, patting Lee on the back.

Neji just looked at Rian. His blank eyes betrayed nothing as he stared the child up and down. But his thoughts were spinning like leaves in a hurricane inside his head.  
Lee looked puzzled, but let Gai go and dropped to the ground, arms folded limply over his knees as he smiled with all his teeth. Another student of youth was just fine with him.

Gai flopped down beside Lee on the ground. Neji shook his head at length and joined them, along with Rian.

"Right! This is Rian, your new teammate. She'll be with us, in our cell-

"Until what?" Neji spat. "Until she dies, too?"

Lee looked over at Neji, shock written across his face. Gai's eyes narrowed, and he growled under his breath.  
"Neji."

The Hyuuga set his mouth in a firm line, working his jaw muscles in defiance.Rian looked blankly at the boy.

_Right. Avoid the Yank. The yank is trouble._

Rian bit her lip, wishing Neko-Chan would be quiet for a minute or so.

"Right!" the green clad man broke his glare, smiling again. "Rian, tell us about yourself!"

Rian looked at the ground. She hadn't prepared for this.

"Um, well, my name is Rian.." she began. She could feel the Hyuuga glaring at the back of her head. She put her head up, to stare the boy down. Her poker face stared back at him.

"That's all you need to know." she said.

Neji glared at her, daring her to blink. Rian smirked at him.

Gai and Lee looked back and forth at them. The tension between them was thick enough to cut with a butter knife.

Gai cleared his throat, breaking the silence.  
"Alright!" he barked, startling Lee, who had been watching them both like a tennis match.

"Sparring matches! Lee, Neji, you go over to the next area. Rian, you're with me."

"YOSH, Gai-sensei!"

"Hmph."

_.. And France puts down it's cigarrete long enough to curse-_

"Shut up, Neko-Chan."

**A/N: There. Long enough chapter? 4's a'comin' soon...**


	4. Goldfishes and Colds

Rian adjusted well to her placement on Gai's cell over the next month. With Neko-Chan coaxing her on, Iruka's worries about placing her on the team had diminished considerably. Gai was more then over-joyously accepting of his new student, and only after an attempted stabbing did he stop his habit of bone-crushing hugs. And one could feel Neji's indifference rather then see it.  
Lee was happy to have another team mate, but continued to be much himself.

And so, The Gai Cell fell into a normal way of existing, which they hadn't since the death of their former member Tenten. Life fell into a strange kind of normal for them all.

Gai usually sent Neji and Lee off to do whatever it was they did, (leading to many gay jokes from a certain brown cat we all know…) and tried his best to catch Rian up to their level of skill.

**Author's Note: DON'T KILL ME! My computer broke and had to be shipped out to be fixed! Oh well. Only one person has this on Story Alert, anyway...**

Gai was thrilled to see Rian excel at a rather advanced rate, but it really wasn't due in any part to Gai's tutelage. No, it was all Neko-Chan's doing.  
The cat taught Rian more then Gai could have possibly taught her.

Whereas Gai constantly lectured her on the proper ways to kick an enemy's brains out, Neko-Chan counseled her on keeping one's head. He taught her to watch an opponent and map out his idiosyncrasies, find his weak spot, visualize his moments and anticipate them with deadly accuracy.

Neko-Chan sagely unfolded Rian's Shinobi abilities, in a way that no human teacher could have. He knew every inch of her mind, every foible and habit. He knew exactly how to push and counsel her, sharpening her into a purely devious tool of war, much to both of their contentment.

An important thing Neko-Chan taught her was how to downplay one's self, therefore gaining another trump card.  
Cursed with short stature, Rian was already overlooked as mediocre. Neko-Chan taught her this was another thing to be manipulated and used as a weapon.

Manipulation. That was the key to her potential, Neko-Chan drilled into her. Working behind the scenes, without the need for showy jutsu and crackling chakra. The mind was her most powerful weapon, he said, tapping his furry cranium with a brown paw. Rian took his words to heart.

He was all she had.

Another rule he taught her was, Never become attached to any human.  
They are deceivers, betrayers, and even worse manipulators then she and her cat. They are drunkards and sluts, and vain, prideful creatures. Their habits were deadly, and what is deadly is toxic.  
Besides, becoming attached to people created bonds that would hurt when broken.

So, as much as she appreciated Gai's tutelage, she did not allow herself to become overly-fond of his exuberant and loving demeanor, or look up to him as Lee did.

Crafted carefully under the hands of her dearest companion, Rian evolved from a weak academy student, to the rightful genin worthy to wear her country's symbol on her headband.

Truly, she was content to revel in Neko-Chan's attentions and learn all he could teach along the pathway to becoming a ninja.

* * *

"WAC-CHOO!"

_Uh oh.. That doesn't sound good._

Rian rolled over from her tangled sheets, burying her face in the sweat-soaked pillow.

"Ugh, Nego-Than, I dun fell gud." she said, looking at him through her glassy eyes.

_You sound awful.  
_

A moment passed, a bit of red chakra glowing at Rian's forehead.

_Your cooking like a rotisserie chicken, too._

Rian's only response was an "Ug."

Neko-Chan sighed. It probably wasn't good for Rian to be training today. He could already tell. Plus, he'd worked her hard yesterday, and it'd been raining, long after Gai and Neji had gone home.

"I'b nod getting up." Rian defied through the pillow.

_Yeah, I know. Get some rest._

Rian sighed. "Sank you, Nego-Than"

_Night, Chan.  
_

"WAG-CHOO!"

Neko-Chan sighed, and curled himself into a ball. He might as well rest as well.

Rian was out like a light. Neko-Chan wondered what it felt like to have a head cold. The kid was a wreck, pure and simple. He'd never in his life been sick before. He wondered how Rian must feel, to be flaming with fever and nostrils clogged with whatever clogs noses when you have a cold.

Sympathy, one of his least used emotions filled him, as he stroked himself with one of his tails.

He hoped she got better soon. If he knew Rian, she'd be up before he could say-

A knock on the front door interrupted his thoughts.

"Combing…" Rian said, though she made no moves to get up.

The knocks increased in intensity and consistency.

"I thed, combing!" she said, and Neko-Chan braced himself as Rian pulled herself up.

Poor kid, still wearing her wet clothes from yesterday. She'd gotten home, tossed her weapons on the table, and collapsed on her old mattress.

Rian stumbled over ramen wrappers, a wet blanket, a few DVD boxes, and the remains of Thursday's popcorn dinner before she reached the door. It took her twice to grab the handle, and fling the door open.

The green hurt Rian's eyes, and sent another pain through her head.

"Yosh!" the green thing cried, throwing a thumbs up at Rian's face.

Neko-Chan scoffed. What was Rian's idiotic team mate doing here?

"Hai, Rian-San! Where've you been?" he said, as though he'd been waiting for her all day on the doorstep.

Rian winced, his loud voice bothering her even more then usual.

"Hi, Lee. I'b been in bed. I thick." she said, a loud cough enforcing her statement.

Lee's massive eyebrows lowered with sympathy. "Oh, you sound awful"

"Yah." she said, wiping her runny nose.

Rian cast an anxious look over at her bed, really needing to lie back down.

"Well, I'b not combing to training tuday. See you toborrow"

"Wait!" he said, putting a bandaged hand between the door and the wall to prevent her from closing it.

Rian looked up at him, eyes half glazed-over.

"You cannot cease your training due to a simple cold! It would waste your precious youth!" he said.

Rian looked at him.  
"You're crady." she said at length. "Get out of by houde"

Lee looked surprised at the statement. He'd been called crazy before, but never by his own teammate.. Well, Neji did sometimes, but-

"I insist you come!" he said, flinging open the door. "Youth awaits"

"Youth will wait 'till toborrow." Rian said, crawling back under the sheets, not even caring if Lee was there. Her head hurt too much.  
"WA-CHOO!"

Lee looked at the lump under the blanket that was Rian. How could she just give in to sickness this way? Perhaps her youth was not as strong as he thought.  
Well, he would remedy that immediately!

"Up, up, up!" he yelled, and pulled the blanket off her. Rian cringed at the light, curled into a fetal position.

"WACH! GET 'WAY, LEE! LEMEE 'LONE!" she yelled, her voice nasally.

"No! Youth waits for no one!" he said, attempting to drag her out of the house, while Rian grabbed another blanket and covered herself with it.

"GO WAY, LEE!" she yelled again, attempting to hit him with one fist and keep her head covered from the blinding lamp light with the other.

Lee scowled. "Are you coming to training with me, or am I going to have to drag you?"

* * *

"LEE, PUT ME DOWN!" Rian yelled, kicking her feet into Lee's chest.

"Never"! Lee said, trying not to wince as her fists dug into his back.

A man of his word, Lee really had dragged Rian out of the house. She'd put up quite a fight, biting and kicking and screaming, and dragging that darn blanket over her head.  
Luckily, she'd left her weapons on the table and didn't have them on her, or Lee would most likely be bleeding profusely Even now, walking to the training ground, he was considering knocking her out the way she was carrying on.

He'd flipped her up and over his shoulder like a piece of meat the way a hunter carries it.  
That was the only way to keep her from murdering him. That way she was beating his back to death instead of his face. Luckily as well, being sick she was too weak to fight him.

Lee's intentions were good, simply the ones Gai had brainwashed into him for all these years.  
He meant no malice. But Rian did.

"Oh, when I get my hands on my kunai.." she hissed.

_I say we poison his vitamins._  
Neko-Chan was as pissed as Rian. He hated Lee.

"And make him drink acid."

_And his leg warmers._

"And catfish."

Lee overheard Rian hissing. Probably plotting to murder him.

Rian was finally limp. She'd beat bruises into his back and chest until she had no more strength.  
She flopped over his shoulder like a rag doll. Maybe Lee would think she was dead, and put her down. Then she could punch him in the teeth and escape back home and go back to sleep.

Truth be told, she wasn't too tired anymore. The cold had taken away the drowsy feeling. And her nose wasn't as clogged anymore. That probably came from being hung upside down.  
Rian became more aware of her situation as she realized Lee could probably drop her flat on her face anytime he pleased, but he wasn't.

"Wonder why?"

_.. He's crazy. That's why. He's going to kill you and put you in his freezer in a sandwitch bag._

She laughed a little, because her throat was still sore.

"Lee? Can you put me down, please?"

Lee shook his head. "I f I do, you'll scratch me and run again"

Rian flopped again, all her hope gone. He was going to drag her all the way to training…

"Lee, why are you doing this?" her voice clearing some.

Lee smiled at her coherency. "Because you are my teammate! And I can't have you wasting all your youth away!"

Rian huffed. What was all this talk of "youth" he and Gai always chattered about? Then, something hit her.

"Lee,.. You know, Gai-Sensei isn't in the Springtime of his Youth anymore." the words tasted strange on her tongue.

Lee stopped dead in his tracks. Rian could feel his eyes pop wide.

'Wha-wha-wha.." he babbled at the realization.

"It's true." Rian said. "He's old and crusty now. Not young and.. Youthful"

Lee was trembling, but he kept walking forward.  
"Then, then, then, then where is he?" he asked, as though Rian had all the answers.

Rian threw a look at Neko-Chan.

"The Autumn of His Virility." Rian gave Neko-Chan's answer.

"Alas, Autumn is so close to Winter!" Lee cried, nearly dropping Rian, but she scrambled and grabbed his spandex to keep from dying.

"Yeah." Rian said, a twinge of sadness in her voice. Autumn really was too close to Winter…

"Maybe the 'Summer of his Adolesence." she answered, her heart and voice lighter.

Lee smiled. "Yes. Summer"

Rian smiled right along with him. His smile was almost intoxicating, sometimes That wasn't the only thing she noticed about him. His arms, which had dragged her out of her home this morning, had been flexing with all their strength against his tiny opponent.

She suddenly felt how strong he was, carrying her like this. He was hardly any taller then her herself.  
And his hand was clamped over her leg like a vice, which was the only thing keeping her from going flat in the dirt.

Rian smirked sadly. She hoped they'd get there soon. She certainly was not enjoying this mode of transportation.

"Come on, Lee. I won't run. Put me down, please." she asked.

Lee dropped her with about as much grace as one would expect from someone carrying a sack of potatoes. Rian slid back over his shoulder and landed on her face. She did a quick flip and got to her feet.

Lee smiled at her and continued walking towards the grounds. The barrier marker was in sight already.  
Rian smirked, and ran to catch up to him.

For some reason, she felt a little better, and kind of "fuzzy" inside. But the feeling was soon forgotten.

* * *

"Come on, Rian-San. I know you want one!"

"No, I don't." Rian spat.

Gai waggled the bag in front of her face. "Come on, everyone loves Goldfish!"

"Not me, sir."

Gai looked at little Rian, who was scowling into space, probably because Gai was trying to force her into eating the cracker carps.

"-sigh- As you wish, Rian-San." he said, the sorrow in his voice catching, and tugging a string Rian's heart.

_Pathetic._

Weren't Jounin supposed to be mature adults? Not ranting about youth, and wearing leg warmers and eating.. Goldfish?

Gai's look cheered up, and he reached into the bag grabbed a handful of cheesy, salty deliciousness, and shoved them into his mouth. He crunched contentedly for a moment.  
But then-

_Oh no._

"Run, Neko-Chan."

Gai cleared his throat, and began tapping his feet together. His grin turned sillily insane, and he opened his salty mouth and said…

"I love the Fishes 'cause... they're so delicious! … Got GoldFishes! … dun dun dun I looovve the fishes cuz they're sooo delicious… and nutritious…"

Rian buried her head in her hands and tried to block the sounds out. Neko-Chan yowled and covered his ears.

"Can you please call it a day?" Rian asked, trying to keep the hiss out of her voice.

'Oh, yes." Gai said, swallowing another handful of the crackers. "You can go on home now"

As she walked away, thanking God for his intervention, she could hear Gai singing,  
"It's the snack that smiles back… Goldfish! When they smile, they're so suspicious... doo doo dee doo"

_That man is insane._

"Hm. Neko-Chan…" Rian scolded, smiling.

_And Lee's just like him._

Rian just smirked, and mentally ruffled Neko-Chan's fur. Oh well, it was time to go home.

She frowned, thinking about all the kunai she would need to sharpen tonight. And the flat needed a good cleaning, and her headband was-

The next thing Rian knew, she'd walked straight into a pole.

_Smooth move, Slick Hair._

Rian grimaced, and started to scramble up. Suddenly, she realized there were two eyes looking at her.

"Hello, Lee." she muttered, shaking the splinters from her face.

Lee's black eyes were staring at her, boring a hole in the back of her head. Neji had gone home hours ago, and Lee had been practicing his various training exercises.

"What were you doing?" Rian asked.

"Tree kicking!" Lee proclaimed.

He made it sound even dumber then it looked. Oh well, habits of the ridiculous.

She was about to comment on this when she noticed his leg.

"Lee, your leg is bleeding." she said pointing.

Lee looked down, his black hair flopping with the movement of his head. "Oh." he said. "Yes"  
Rian just looked at him, at the blood seeping through the orange leg warmer.

"Sit down." she said, sighing, and pulling a bandage from her shruiken pouch.

Lee dropped on his behind on the ground, looking at her as though she was going to skewer him alive.  
"What are you doing?" he cried when she put a hand on his leg.

"Bandaging your dumb ass leg, what does it look like?" she snapped. She was already worn thin from training today, and she could have been home hours ago.

"Rian, I don't think-" he began.  
"Shut up. I'm doing you a favor"

She yanked at the Velcro until the blood soaked cloth gave way, and tossed it over beside Lee's hand,

There was a huge bulge in Lee's pantleg.

"Lee, what-" she knocked on the knot with her knuckle. It clanked, like metal.

"Oh. That is my training weight." he said, rolling up his pant leg to reveal the metal apparatus.  
Rian's eyebrows jumped to the top of her head.

Lee struggled to undo the thing, and when it gave way, dropped it to the ground. The earth shook slightly.

Rian stared wide eyed at the thing. "How do you-" She silenced herself, and turned back to his leg, where the blood was still flowing fresh.

Rian gasped.

She knew almost nothing about medical training, but even she knew this was serious.

There was an imprint of the weight into the bloody flesh. Apparently, Lee had tried to keep the weight from rubbing with a wad of bandages, but they were having no effect at all.  
The gauze had collapsed on itself, leaving bloody chafe marks in two lines around his calf. Half-healed flesh was trying desperately to close back up, but could not from the constant pressure of the weights. Fresh red blood pumped out of what had to be agonizing wounds, dripping into a puddle on the forest floor, darkening the soil.

Rian's mouth dropped open. Neko-Chan was mimicking her expression. This, this was bad.

She threw a glance over at the weight. It had to weigh, 60, 70 pounds.  
How did bear the pressure of those things? When, how did-

"When's the last time you took these things off?" Rian asked, still incredulous.  
Lee looked down into his lap. "Um, last year."

Rian turned to look at him. "LAST YEAR?"

Lee grimaced, and Rian turned back to the bloodied_ mash_ of a leg.

The open air must be killing it.. And the pressure of hitting it against a tree repeatedly.

She quickly bandaged it as gently and as fast as she could, but God. It made her want to puke. She could practically see the white of his bone poking through the mangled flesh.

She sobered her face as Lee reached for the weight again. He must wear it all the time. How did he sleep, run- hell, how did he even walk in those things.

She caught his hand before it strapped the thing on.  
"No." she said, sternly.

"I have to." he replied, sadly.

"But Lee, it's just festering! It's gonna get infected, and-" Rian was practically in tears, trying to imagine the constant pain he must be in. Why, why did Lee have to be so ridiculous? Why couldn't he just-

"Because it'll make me stronger!" he rasped.

"Stronger, my ass! Youre going to get gangrene and"

Lee's look said she didn't need to continue. Rian looked away as tears gathered in his eyes.

"I must." was his only answer, as he dialed in the last lock of his torture device.

He tried to stand up, using a tree for support, but Rian grabbed his arm and helped him stand.  
"Thank you." he said, strapping his leg warmer back on.

There were a million things Rian wanted to say to him, but she couldn't bring herself to.

She just watched as he walked off into the forest, a slight limp in his step.

"You're being stupid!" she choked out after him.

Lee turned to fac her, a whistful smile on his face. "Stupid is as stupid does."

It was right about then that Rian 'got it'. Got why Lee wore those silly weights, why he trained at all hours of the day, why he worked so hard. She didn't know how. She just 'got it'.

She smiled, and Lee disappeared off for home.

Neko-Chanbristled.

_That kid is ridiculous._

"No." Rian corrected. Neko-Chan just didn't 'get it'.

"He's just… strong"

And she promised herself she would never think of him as a weak fool again.

**A/N: If no more Motherboards blow out, Chapter Five should be here sooner then this one was.**


	5. Cliche

**Author's Note: ..I jinxed myself. "Lappy" got junked on his fourth service call. -cries- And now, me and my new Gateway computer are ready to get this chapter on. And, the author is officially suffering from writer's blaaaaaaaah. Not block. Blaaaaaaaah.  
And so, this chapter shall be a few one shots on clichés that are, painfully, all too common.  
What do you expect? 12 days with no computer makes you go all "blah" inside.  
Don't kill me, my lovely reviewers. Oh, how I love those reviews! And the 5, count them, FIVE, people, have this story on their Author Alert list. THAT IS SO GREAT! I WAFF YOU ALL!  
All right. On with the story.  
All these quotes are taken from "What Cats Teach Us" by Glen Dromgoole. Kind of ironic, huh?**

Common Saying #1:  
Sophisticated laziness does not simply come. You have to cultivate it.

"Pass the Cheetos"

Gai handed the bag to him without looking from the blinking screen, which temporarily had the entire team paralyzed.

Yes, it was Friday night after a long, hard, C Rank mission, and the entire cell was camped out on Gai's couch, watching a mindless horror movie.

Lee was looking protean with his head propped up on one hand, his eyelids flickering.  
Scattered bowls and various spilled junkfood littered the green carpet. Neji shuffled some popcorn off his shoes.

"This is so mindless. What are we watching?" he asked.

Lee picked up the box. "Wolf Creek"

"It's horror, right?"

"Yes."

"It's not very frightening." he retorted, smirking.

"Maybe it would be if someone pressed the Play button." Rian suggested, chug-a-lugging half a can of Pepsi in one gulp.  
The residents moulded to the sagging couch made no reply for a few minutes.

"Where's the remote?" Neji asked.  
"Gai-Sensei's sitting on it." Rian replied, while Lee crammed a handful of potato chips in his face.

"We should be up, and training." Gai reminded them in a bored tone, arms crossed over his chest as he slumped backwards, his bare feet propped up on the coffee table buried in bags and wrappers.

"We'll work off the Ding Dongs tomorrow." Rian said as Lee squirted whipped cream into his mouth straight from the canister. Rian followed suit with a stray can of squeeze cheese and an Oreo not trampled by feet and dropped cups.  
The room was quiet once again.

"Everybody lives in their little submarine.." Lee sang lethargically, tapping his bare feet together.  
"Shut up." Rian crammed a handful of Twizzlers into his mouth, and he complied.

Gai belched, and opened another can of Diet Coke.  
"Well, someone's gotta get up and press the button." Neji said flatly.

Accusing eyes stared back from one to another, before settling on the Hyuuga youth.

"You suggested it." Gai said, making it clear he had no intention of moving, and had not since roughly three hours ago.

"Fine." he sighed, pushing himself from the Neji-sized indention in the sofa.  
"Bring some more Pringles, please." Lee called.

The button pressed and the potatoes fetched, Neji plopped back down into his spot, between Gai and Rian.  
The opening credits began to roll.

"Right." Rian said, and shook up an economy sized bottle of root beer before opening it.

* * *

Common Saying#2:  
When you want to get to a high place, have confidence in your ability to get there.

_Move, Chan._  
Rian pressed her body against the hard granite of the seemingly never-ending wall, her fingers clawing at the small niche of a handhold she had found. Her feet hung half off the edge of a small ledge, her ankles dangling over a long fall and a hard drop.

She wrenched her eyes open as a seemingly gale-force wind blew past, leaving her teetering dangerously, her balance waning over the abyss beneath her.

"Come on, you two!" Gai yelled from the appointed top. Neji smirked down at them, since he'd reached the top first. Rian scowled. She was falling behind.

A wave of nausea passed over her, and she fought the bile back down her throat, pausing to wipe the drying sweat from her brow.  
With a sudden burst of courage, she propelled herself up a few feet by sheer force and sheer panic, until she was left frantically scrambling for another handhold.

_Chan, move.  
_

"I can't." she said simply, knowing there would certainly be an argument on the cat's part.

_You climb, or you die. And you're not going to die._

Fair enough. Rian groped for something to hold onto. She found it, and pulled herself up.  
She bit her lip as blood dribbled out her nose.

"If you need some help-" Gai yelled down to her.

She scowled.  
No. The instructions were simple. Climb Mt. Hokage, no chakra use allowed. She could do that.

She was not going to fall back, not going to let anyone get ahead of her.  
The rock holding her up seemed to disagree.

Suddenly, her only handhold dislodged and crumbled in her sweaty palm.

There was terrifying millisecond where her stomach dropped and her heart stopped, before gravity yanked down hard on the small body.

The passage of time was strange. Everything seemed to slow down, the looks of horror on her teammates faces, eyes slowly widening. It was almost amusing, in a masochistic way.  
And, had her thirteen years not been flashing before her eyes, she might have enjoyed.

It was then everything became detached, as if she had already died. The air no longer had it's sting, and the only thing she could really feel was gravity dragging her slowly to her death. Even the neko of her discontent had disappeared, or perhaps he was screaming at her, she couldn't really hear.

Everything was going dark.. The wind stopped whistling, the air stopped howling. This was death.

Suddenly, everything got yanked back to regular speed. The sudden stop sent her eyes bugging out of her head and a burning sensation on her left arm. Gravity was still tugging, but less terrifying now, as something was anchoring her in place.

Something.. Her brain frantically tried to process what was happening.

"God, are you lucky!" Lee yelled from a few feet above her. His right hand was clamped around her arm like a vice, the only thing separated her from life and another shinobi casualty on a death list.

".. Man, if I'd have been a few feet farther, you'd be deader then a doornail!" he laughed, but his black eyes were solemn. There was no accusation, no punishment, just thankfulness that she was alive.

She found her voice and smiled, even laughed a bit, brainwashing the terror away.

"Thanks, Lee-San" she said, brown eyes the closest to smiling they'd ever been.

He shook his head positively and let her close enough to grab another ledge.  
"Just follow behind me, OK?" he said. And started clambering upwards determinedly.

Rian put her game face back on. This exercise was truly frightening, but maybe with a friend, it wouldn't be so bad after all.

* * *

Common Saying #3:

Running away from a fight may be a sign of intelligence, not cowardice.

Lee's head made a resounding noise as it struck the ground.  
Neji replaced his hand at his side and scowled down at him.  
"You're fated to be a failure. How many times do I have to tell you?" he said tiredly, his voice still flat and boring as usual.

Tenth time this week, Rian mentally ticked off. Tenth time Lee had challenged his "eternal rival" to a "battle" and had "gotten his ass royally kicked.

The miniature version of Gai made no other noise or movement, other then to curl a determined fist and place it by his head.

"You're so damned determined to prove your greatness. If you think you're so wonderful, what have you to prove to me?" Neji questioned.

Lee's shoulders shook, and he curled one arm to his chest.

_Ah, yes. Another fatalist-Neji pep talk._

"It's not to you." Lee spat, his voice muffled in the dirt.

"Don't give me that." Neji said, walking smartly over to stand over him. "You can't stand me because I disagree with your little life's dream"

"NO!" Lee yelled, jumping to his feet with a surprising speed. He jabbed one finger into Neji's chest.  
"I can't stand you because you think you're SO SMART! You think you can put people down just because you think they're SO beneath you!"

Rian and her cat's eyebrows shot up. Lee was completely out of the norm. She'd never heard him speak this way. He sounded… serious.

"You stand there, with your special little eyeballs, and preach to the choir about failures and fate! Tell me, Neji? Did fate destine you to be such a genius and stoic asshole?" he raged, poking the Hyuuga's chest.

Neji, who had looked rather surprised, shoved Lee's hand away.

"Yes, because everything is destined. And, I'm only an 'asshole' because I get under your skin."

Lee brought it back up. "You think just because you can bat me and Rian-San and Gai-Sensei around, that gives you some airs above your station. It doesn't! Someday, my hard work will pay off, and I can prove to MYSELF that I don't put up with your shit everyday for nothing!"

Gai looked at Rian with wide eyes. Rian returned the look, shrugging her shoulders.

Lee growled, and clenched a quivering fist at his side. His eyebrows covered his black orbs that raged with fury. The tension in the air could have been cut with a butter knife.

Neji rolled his eyes, and walked away, apparently calling it a day.

Lee's body trembled and his eyes twitched. The veins in his head were throbbing as he stared after him.  
"Had enough?" Gai said. He placed a hand on one of Lee's shoulders.

Lee dropped his head, unballed his fist as the tension began to pass, his body relaxing. "Yes, sir."

Rian blinked. For just a moment, she thought she saw a real person in that green spandex suit.

* * *

Common Saying #4:

Make love, not war.

Lee drew his shaking hand up towards his face, his eyes pleading.  
"Rian-San, please. It was an accident!" he cried, smiling innocently.

His teammate scowled at him, wordlessly communicating she was going to make him pay. Big time.

"And I missed on purpose!"  
A sweat drop appeared, and froze in the cold air. (What DOES happen to frozen sweat drops)

"Please? Just don't do this.. And, I will.. I will play DDR when I am not on a DDR machine"

An equal bargain, he was sure. His fake smile was beginning to freeze that way.  
Just look in her eyes, she'll back down.  
… Or not.

Rian raised the weapon upwards, to where she would have deadly accuracy when it hit him.

"I will eat a dead lizard!" he pleaded, hoping it would work.

Wrong. Rian advanced towards him slowly, her face caught in a tight scowl.

"I will slurp ramen through my nose?" he asked, cowering.

One look said "No" loud and clear.

She raised the hand that concealed the deadly weapon over her head, her fingers bloody from gripping the searing cold for so long.  
Lee paled, knowing sure death was coming soon enow.

Her hand mercilessly slammed downwards, just missed his head…

SPLAT!

Cold exploded down the back of Lee's coat, soaking through his spandex, dribbling down his back.  
Fragments of it stuck in chunks to his head, biting at his scalp, and one biiiiiig ol' dollop stopped at the nape of his neck.

"ACK!" he yelled.  
He was the one scowling now, as Rian laughed and pointed at him.

"I GOT YOU! I GOT YOU!" she taunted, sounding very much like a certain kitsune child.

Lee smirked slightly, and bent down. The frozen ground stung as he dug up a portion of the hardened sleet into his hand, sculpting it into a slushy projectile.  
Rian wasn't the only one who could cream someone with a snowball.

* * *

Common Saying #5:  
It's the thought that counts

Rian fingered the package nervously, wondering how much she looked like Hinata at that moment.  
She was tying herself in knots, mentally. Worrying.

_Just give it to him._

"What if he doesn't like it?"

_Then he can give it back, and we can eat him._

Rian smiled sadly, before whistfully returning to stew over the contents of the box.  
Hadn't she taken forever to decide what it was? Hadn't she finally noticed the crucial difference? Hadn't she already driven herself half-mad thinking about it?

_Look, just give the damned thing to him. If he hates it, he'll hate it. Don't get yourself all concerned over it._

Rian swallowed. She couldn't think why she was so nervous about this.

_Chan, I don't like this. Why are you getting all upset?  
_

"He's my friend." she said, tapping her fingers.

_Friend?_

"I may need an ali someday." she said, though not entirely sure that was the reason.  
But it satisfied the cat, and his critically searching yellow eyes.

Rian took a deep breath, and stepped out of the bushes.

"678.. 679... 680..." Lee was muttering, doing pushups in the dirt. Rian's knees knocked a little, before she calmed her nerves, reinforcing Neko-Chan's answer in her head.

"Oh, Hi, Rian-San! What brings you here?" Lee asked, noticing her standing there, a hand behind her back.  
She took in a little breath of air before pulling her arm back from behind her.

"Here." she tossed him the small box. He caught it.

"Happy birthday." she reminded him, smiling nervously.

"Oh! Thank you!" he smiled widely, turning the light box over and over in his hands. "How did you know?"

"I came across it in your file."

_Duh, Dip. You stalked into the Hokage's filing room and nearly got us killed by the Black Ops._

Rian scowled at the cat, but turned her attention back to the sitting teenager before her.

"How old are you?" she tried breaking the ice with.

"I am 14 years old, sir!" he smiled, holding up four fingers.

Rian returned the grin, but she still felt nervous for some reason.

"Can I open it?" Lee asked, staring at it as if to look through it.

"Yeah." she answered, holding her left arm, a nervous habit.

Lee was painstakingly pulling off the newspaper wrapping. Rian had tried really hard to wrap it right, but it turned out as though Orochimaru tried to wrap it using only his teeth.  
Some duct tape, panic and medication later, it turned out.. Alright. If you tilted the box sideways and squinted really hard. It might also help if you had a cataract.

She was going to give him two seconds to tear it apart before she did it herself.

Finally, he tossed the Economy Section aside, and popped the lid on the small box. He stared down into the package sitting in his lap.

One hand ventured in and pulled out- a Leaf Headband.

Before he asked, Rian blurted out as calmly as she could. "Your headband is red- it used to be.. An old custom.. To give the worst student, with lowest grades who still graduated.. A red headband… and the best one, a black. They s-stopped that last year,.. It was considered favoritism.. but.. They must have done it with you.. And I just wanted you to know that you're not the worst- That you're more then equal to"

"Thank you, Rian." Lee said, a wistful smile on his face, as his fingers wrapped around the new, stiff cloth of the headband.

Rian breathed a sigh of relief. He had caught on to why she'd given it to him, even with her silly stuttering.

Lee undid his old headband and tossed it into the box, fastening the new one around him. "Looks good." she said, starting to feel normal again.

He nodded vigorously, putting his hands on his hips. Neko-Chan smacked his forehead, before turning around for a nap. Rian was just weird sometimes. Perhaps it was over-exposure to Gai and Lee.

Rian was starting to turn around to leave, when something smashed into her from behind. A green arm squeezed around her neck, temporarily cutting off her oxygen supply and shaking her back and forth.

"Thank you, Rian-San! It's great, really! I never even noticed that- And-" Lee said, between strangling his teammate and smiling with all his teeth.  
"Chan." she muttered.

"What?"

"Chan. I'm your friend, you know." she said before she knew it.

"Oh." he said. He let it set in, then flashed her a good guy pose. "Friends we are, Rian! Friends we are!"

Between the new metal of the headband around his waist, and the blinding light from his teeth, Rian managed to smile weakly, and throw him a thumbs up back, though not quite as exuberant as his, she dared say.

Gai came crashing through the bushes. "Ah, there you two are!" he exclaimed, as though he'd been searching for them since last week.

"Gai-Sensei! Look at this!" he called, eager to show off his newest possession, and the real reason behind it.

* * *

"All right. Why are we here?"  
Rian had looked up from her ramen bowl up at Gai, who was trying his best to slurp his ramen faster then his Eternal Rival, who was unwittingly seated a few stools down.

Lee, forgetting to possess a gag reflex, was sucking his ramen up like a vacuum. Neji, beside him, was eating quietly, looking shamed to be seated next to the threesome beside him.

There were only a few customers in the Ichiraku that night, but Ayame was bustling around to make up for it, her father spitting out commands to his teenage daughter.

Gai slurped the last of his bowl and slammed it onto the counter.  
"We never come here, or at least all together, unless Lee learned a new move, or youth moves you to pay. So, what is it?" she questioned, cradling her head lazily in one hand.

"The reason is-" Gai answered immediately, smiling deviously. He took a deep breath to build the suspense. No need, Lee was already hanging on his words.

"I've enrolled you all in the Chuunin Journeyman exams!" Gai finished, throwing his arms up into the air for emphisis.

Lee cheered, and jumped up and down. "-This week!" he yelled again.

Lee ran up and hugged him, entertaining the other customers with the sunset background that appeared.

Neji smirked, and Rian smiled, before turning back to her bowl over Lee's loud exclamations of joy.

_This is it, Chan._ Neko-Chan said proudly. _We're moving up in the ranks.  
_

Rian smiled, and brought her chopsticks to her lips.

It was the beginning of threegenin's lives, And also the end of everything.

**My first try at a cliffhanger. So? Liked? Hated? Review, please. And the next oen will be here soon.**


	6. The Beginning of the End

**Author's Note: Sorry about the late update again. I have a real excuse this time, I swear!**

**My aunt went into heart failure and we had to rush to Florida. 18 hours in the car, 99 bottles of beer on the wall, a crappy motel with no locks on the door, two rambunctious cousins I was supposed to keep out of everyone's hair, 1 bitching aunt who took every opportunity in the too damn hot state of Florida to make cracks about me being on medication, and too many Lifesavers to count.**

**Bellsouth doesn't work in Florida for some reason. So no internet.**

**All 6 year old cousins and no internet makes for a very, very pissed off and irritable HMR.**

**Consequentially, this may not be the best chapter.**

**Luckily, by the good grace of my cousin Christina, I was able to read Khazia's _One Moment. _Thank you, girl. That story is the only thing that kept me sane.**

**The good news: My cousin Benjamin has become obsessed with Naruto. We 'trained' by punching an inflatable chair and each other. (I couldn't punch him. He'd cry. So he tried to beat me up. But I poked him in the stomach and he flipped out.) He pretended to be Kakashi all week, and ran around Chidori-ing people in the stomach. He's wearing a bandana over his eye right now. Let's just hope he doesn't decide to start reading porn… (I told him Kakashi reads 'a book'.) He's begging me for the story about the day Kakashi and Gai got their pants stolen. (Yes, I've been making up silly stories about Kakashi and Gai to shut them up.) My cousin Victoria, age 4, has been pretending to be Tenten, Ben was Kakashi, and they forced me to be Gaara or Gai. Yes, they both loved Gai, and my impressions of him. **

**They both will be walking around and suddenly they'll shake their hips around wildly, put their hands over their heads and go, "I won't mind if it's an eating contest!" Episode 98 humor. Haha.I saved myself most of the insanity by calling Old Man's Pack and Go Fish "missions".**

**Anyway, this chapter still has some light humor. I need to know you're reacting and feeling the characters adequately, so it's to make reactions come more readily. Oh, and for the fluff lovers. There'll be major Lee/Rian during the Preliminaries, and some angst in the Forest of Death. Also, Lee/Sakura will be present in this chapter, but hey, Rian's gonna get him in the end… maybe. You'll just have to read and find out! HAHAHA!**

One would think that an exam with an aptly named "Forest of Death", life or death preliminaries, and a written exam of impossible questions would down Gai's team's confidence slightly, if not completely.

Not so, here.

Lee, instantly overjoyed at the chance to further himself shinobi wise, had been training himself past his normal level, which had been outrageous at best, but was now bordering on obsessive compulsive.

He'd return home with knuckles so bloody that even the air through the cotton bandages felt like stabs of a kunai, and his weights so heavy he considered leaving them in an alley walking home.

He'd always give a smile, and try to step higher. He'd bandage his arms with more padding, hoping no one would notice or try to make him treat it. He'd fall asleep cradling his sore bones, his head to the side to avoid the bruise he got from attempting a Lotus gone awry, and even then the sheets might as well have been needles for all the good they did.

And another day, he thought about ditching his weights. His arms were heavier then ever, and his had lungs exploded halfway through training. But, as always, he gave a tired smile, blood dripping from a kunai scrape on his nose.

And collapsed on the sidewalk.

Rian, by some fluke of Fate, happened upon him. She reasoned with Neko-Chan more then herself that she couldn't just leave her teammate on a sidewalk, passed out from exhaustion. And some part of her felt pity for poor, dumb Lee. He was obsessed and weird to boot, but then again, Rian was considered "weird", because she talked to a tom cat that lived in her head. The cat had sighed, and retired to the corner of her mind for a nice nap.

She began rethinking this decision when Lee began drooling on her shoulder as she hauled his heavy ass down the street.

"Why can't Lee act like a normal person?"

And she really wanted more then anything to just toss him in a heap on the ground and leave him there. But she really just couldn't. It was like some bug had crawled through her ear and manifested itself as sudden… compassion.

Gawd.

Grudgingly, she finally dragged him down to the Hospital, where the medics had acted as though everyone dragged an unconscious, drooling, spandex clad nut job in at two in the morning every other day.

A grumbling Rian had been sent home, under full admonishments from the medics that Lee was going to be alright, and he'd be up and about (and annoying everyone) by tomorrow.

Neko-Chan sighed again, and wondered when this whole "caring for her team" thing was going to wear off.

* * *

"OH MY GOD!"

Neji sighed inside, his Inner Chibi pouting.

This had been Lee's exclamation as they neared the Chuunin Testing center. (A building that seemed to have'become' overnight.)

He sighed, wondering if Lee could maintain himself for a few minutes, as not to make them a complete and total embarrassment. Yet.

Gai had tears streaming down his eyes as he stared lovingly after his students. Neji's expression, Rian's green eyes looking at Lee, Lee dancing joyfully.

"Oh, I almost don't want to let you go!" he exclaimed, pulling Lee into a giant hug as he ran by.

Rian gave Gai a look. The famous How Long Were You Without Oxygen When You Were Born Look ™.

Neji rolled his eyes. Gai released Lee, now reduced to a giggling pile of green spandex, and was making his way over to his second student. "Neji!" he cried, and Neji's look said that if Gai hugged him too, Gai was going to have a rather large amount of stab wounds. Gai's smile faltered a bit, but not before he laid eyes upon his other student.

"RIAN!"  
She sighed, and allowed Gai to embrace his newest student and cry manly shoujo tears on her head. He (finally) sniffed, and released her, looking like a reluctant parent sending their child to school for thei first time.

"Take care of yourselves." he said, his voice teary.

"GAI-SENSEI!" Lee was crying.

"LEE!" The floodgates burst.

Much more hugging, crying, loud nose blowing, and sunset backgrounds later, it was time for Team Gai to cross over into the testing center. Gai insisted on putting an extra meat pie in each of their packs (Rian figured she could use it as a projectile in an emergency or something.) before he was ready to part with his pupils.

He gave Lee a hair ruffle, and disappeared using that poofy jutsu for which no one seems to have a name.

Lee opened the plexiglass door and strode through first, a manly swagger to his step. Rian figured that the proctors of the exam would pound some sense into him.

She'd had a hard time dealing with Lee lately. There were times he seemed like a brother, like dragging him to the hospital cursing a blue streak. Or more like a good friend, when she'd attempt teach him the finer points of any number of card game, and laugh at his confusion and complete lack of poker face. And then there were times she was really annoyed with him. Like when he did.. Well, lately she'd been really annoyed with him a lot.

Everything, from his walk to the way he breathed annoyed her.

She'd curse his name, and get a weird feeling in her stomach when she did. Neko-Chan said it was stress, but, for some reason, she felt it was something different.

It was the queerest thing she'd ever experienced. Lee was a teammate, perhaps a friend, and nothing more. What else was there?

Rian, not spending too much time around people, was confused, and worried a bit.

She tried to remember, was this the first time things had felt this way? Had this ever happened before with anyone else? She kept drawing the same conclusion. Lee was a friend, and for some reason that made her feel strange. The weird emotion she kept feeling had a name, but she just had to find it first.

Perhaps it was having a friendly acquaintance that didn't have two tails. She shrugged it off, leaving it to resurface and bother her again in a couple of days.

"Oh, shit…"

Lee's wide eyes were locked on the crowd of a hundred or so nins standing in the waiting room for the first exam. Their headbands bore the Hidden Rain Village's sign. A few gave him looks, before returning to whatever they were doing. Neji even looked startled, but quickly regained his composture, thin lips in a straight line.

Rian didn't see the whoopdee-doo in the whole situation, and plopped down next to a nin that looked big enough to sit on her, Lee, Neji, Gai, and a nickel, and three cents would be exposed.

Neji's face turned to a frown. "Genjutsu." he said simply, before sitting next to Rian. The Rain nin looked slightly annoyed, but returned to his conversation

Rian caught herself looking up. Lee was staring over the edge of the railing, looking down.

He jumped down almost faster then Rian's eyebrows could go up, and she casually went over to see what the commotion was about.

Ah, yes. It appeared Lee was speaking to another pair of genin. They had the Leaf sign on their forehead protectors, so they weren't going to gang up on him, at least.

Oh, wait. It was Naruto and his Wonder Dummy friends. Rian had seen them a few times. Naruto was always yelling, and the girl was always punching him in the face. The angst kid just rolled his eyes at it all.

It was now, dear readers, thatall hellbegins to break loose.

Lee spotted 'it'.

'It' was a year younger then him, a good 5 inches shorter, with pink hair and green eyes.

He strode over to her with all the grace of a seasoned courtier, stopping in front of her. The full power of his freakiness began to radiate, drawing her attention to him. Her face creaked into an instant frown. Rian's eyebrow went up.

"So you're Sakura.." he ventured, looking her up and down.

Sakura? Rian thought, stepping closer.

"Uh, yes." she answered lamely, trying to take a step away from our friendly neighborhood Rock Lee.

"Well,.." Lee said, stepping back a little, to Sakura's relief. Rian was utterly lost in what was about to happen.

"Let's go out together!" he exclaimed, throwing her a good guy pose. "I'll protect you with my **_life_**!"

Rian just about burst out laughing. Lee looked so ridiculous, his good guy pose exaggerated so far he looked like a mini version of Gai, teeth pinging, wide eyes open and staring at her. He'd never looked more weird.

-snort- Phhhhhh….

"No." Sakura answered almost instantly, her fine brows knitting into a scowl.

Lee slumped over at the waist, the picture of dejection. Pitiful.

Neji ignored his slightly-overbearing teammate and turned to the angst Uchiha, who was scowling into space.

"So, what's your name?" Neji asked.

"I'm not obliged to tell you anything." he said.

Angst monkey.

Sakura grabbed Sasuke and Naruto's arms, dragging them away from Team Gai, but mostly from a rather annoying taijutsu master we all know. Lee's disappointment was visible.Once they were out of earshot, Rian jabbed him in the ribs.

"Nice goin'. Scaring the pink bitch off that way." She thought it was a truly ingenious method.

Lee's face was still folded into a frown. "I didn't want to scare her away." he said sadly.

Rian's eyebrows went up. Why on earth not? Lee using his freakish looks to frighten people was such an obvious idea she wondered she hadn't thought of it herself. "Well, one less person to bother us. Can you do it to that slut from the Sand over there? The one with the fan?" she pointed.

"…." Lee stood staring in the general direction in which Kakashi's team had fled.

Neji started walking down the halls. There was only so much time to fill out the necessary wavers that handed the rights of their lives over to them during the exam. He proceeded to the desk and waited at the back of the line.

"Lee." Rian waved a hand in front of his face. "Come on."

Lee was still looking depressed. "You guys go ahead. I've got something to do."

He stalked off in the direction of Kakashi's team, and Neji threw a pile of stapled forms at her head.

"Give one to Lee, too." he said, using a shanghaied pen to fill out the various blank spaces.

Rian glanced over the pages, already feeling carpal tunnel setting in. She grabbed the duplicate and turned to walk after her teammate, who had already disappeared to parts unknown.

"Where the hell did he-" she began, scanning the crowd of heads scattered throughout the building.

He probably went off to find that pink haired bitch.

"Wonder why?" she thought aloud.

The feline shrugged, indicating he had no idea the inner workings of the mind of Rock Lee.

Rian continued wandering throughout the halls. An topographer could get lost in this place.

Every wall looked the same around corners that replayed themselves in architectural torment. It occurred to her that she should have brought a GPS tracker in with her.

Maybe we should try and find our way-

The cat was interrupted as Rian recoiled and jumped to the side as an impact to the wall beside her supplanted. A moaning mass of orange and yellow groaned and curled into a fetal position.

"Uzumaki?" she said aloud. Naruto groaned again, holding his shin to his chest.

Oh, boy.

Rian had arrived just in time to see Lee return to his fighting stance, hand pointed to a rather irate looking Sasuke.

"As you can see, my skills are highly formidable. So much so that I may be referred to as the current strongest of the Konoha genin." Lee said, speaking authoritatively."I want to test myself to see if my skills can measure up to that of a great bloodline heir like an Uchiha. And-"

He turned to a distraught Sakura.

"-Prove my eternal love to you, Sakura!' he exclaimed.

Sakura instantly began to freak out. Tears poured from her eyes and she screamed in disgust.

"Ew! Ew ew ew ew ew ew ew!" she yelled. "HIS EYEBROWS! THE SPANDEX! _HE'S SO GROSS_!"

Lee sighed. "You're an angel." He winked, and blew a kiss at her.

Sakura screamed, and began wildly trying to duck the hearts flying at her.

After cracking her head trying to dodge the shoujo affects, she exploded at him. "EW! STOP IT, YOU FREAKISH UNIBROWED MONSTER…. THING!"  
Lee's smile faltered. "But, Sakura…"

"GET AWAY FROM ME AND SASUKE-KUN!" she yelled, her eyes pupiless and Inner Sakura fuming.

Lee's lower lip trembled, but then flittered into a smile.

"No matter!" he proclaimed. "I shall still test my skills that of the genius of the Clan Uchiha!"

Sasuke looked bored, and charged towards Lee, who smiled widely, and winked at Sakura.

Lee jumped to the side, and sent a Konoha Senpuu piledriving into Sasuke's chest. Sasuke paused in pain, his arms barely blocking the blow. Lee took that opportunity to swoop down into another spinning kick.

Sasuke's arms flew up as Lee's kick neared his face, but to no avail. The Uchiha's guard snapped as Lee's foot collided with Sasuke's pale face. The Uchiha did a rather graceful spiral backwards, before toppling head over heels onto the ground.

"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura cried, frozen to her spot, tears welling in her eyes.

Sasuke lay still for a moment. Rian came to fear Lee had K.O'd him, or maybe even killed him. Of course, it wasn't really fear. It was more admiration, a bit more respect for the younger green beast.

But, the Uchiha shuddered and began to rise to his feet. Rian turned around to see what Lee's reaction would be to Sasuke's-

It took as long for her to turn her head as it took for Lee to rocket behind her and send Sasuke flying up into the air, foot poised beneath Sasuke's bleeding face.

Lee dropped to the ground on all fours and disappeared. He reappeared in the shadow of a temporarily airborne Sasuke.

"Damn. Gai warned him about using Ura Renge." Rian said, watching the battle with interest.

Oh well. If he fries his body winning a worthless battle, it's not our fault.

The bandages flapped as he went to ensnare the now rather frightened Uchiha, whose Sharingan were desperately trying to absorb some shard of a way to defeat the eyebrow endowed freak.

Right then, a shruiken shot past, pinning the stray edge of Lee's bandage, pinning the gauze to the chipped paint of the wall. Lee consequentially was ripped from his Leaf Shadow technique and slammed face-first into the wall. Rian grimaced. So much for higher respect of him.

Lee began pulling himself out of the Rock Lee shaped indention in the plaster, as Sasuke thundered to the ground. A quick movement by Sakura sheltered his body from the brunt of the fall downward, and Rian could have sworn Sakura was hugging that Uchiha boy.

Lee shook his head, and the crumpled bits of plaster from his bowl cut. Two yellow eyes looked with distaste at the miniature green beast.

It was only Nindaime, Gai's summon. Why Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura were going to fits of eye twitching and sweat drops over a turtle was over her head. She herself was quite used to Nindaime's random appearances. Nindaime followed Gai to training somedays, and Gai would sit on his back doing progress assessments. Heck, Nindaime even yelled at Rian on occasion.

Oh yeah. Turtles normally couldn't talk.

"Gai, could you finish taking care of this?" Nindaime asked. Why Gai had named the turtle after the second Hokage was beyond Rian and Company's understanding, which couldn't be said for a lot of things.

Gai appeared, using the poofy jutsu for which this author _still _has no name for. He was posed in perhaps the most ridiculous stance Rian had ever seen him in before leaping off Nindaime's back to tower over his most beloved student.

"Lee.." Gai began. Aforementioned student cringed.

**"YOU IDIOT! DIDN'T I WARN YOU ABOUT KEEPING A LOW PROFILE!"** Gai cracked back a fist and slammed it into Lee's face. He flew backwards, blood pouring from his nose and mouth. He screeched, much like a girl, and stumbled backwards before landing on his behind and cradling his face.

"GAI-SENSEI! I'M SORRY!" he cried, tears mixing with the blood coursing down his face.

Gai's face crumpled, and he burst into tears as well.

Everyone's eyes twitched at the combination of hugs, cheesy music, a sunset background, and the sight of a man and a boy embracing like the women on a Lifetime movie.

Rian sweat dropped. She hadn't realized how pedophilic it looked before.

Lee and Gai wiped their eyes on the sleeves of their green spandex and managed to quiet somewhat.

"That's all right, Lee. Youth is all about making mistakes! And learning from them." Gai said, patting his student on the back.

"I understand!" Lee said, snapping him a salute. Gai smiled, and let out a laugh.

"Good! Now, 500 laps around the training field! On the double!"  
"HAI, GAI-SENSEI!" Lee yelled, as Gai pointed into the distance.

"Hello? Chuunin exam?" Naruto said, breaking the trance, and the annoying music.

Gai blinked. "Oh! Right!". He turned to his young charge.

"Lee, I'm going to punish you for disobeying me, trying to use a technique I forbade you to, and breaking a promise later. For now, THINK ABOUT WHAT YOU'VE DONE AND KICK EVERYONE IN THIS EXAM'S RESPECTIVE BUTTS!"

"HAI!" Lee struck a good guy pose, and Gai disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

Sakura, seeing an opportunity to escape, dragged Sasuke and Naruto down the hall towards the registration desk. Lee was looking fondly at the spot where Gai had disappeared from.

"Isn't Gai-Sensei great?" he asked, sensing Rian behind him.

But Rian was dragging him face first back down the hallway and flushing red.

* * *

".. And the tenth question is really a trick. Say you'll take it, and we're in the clear."

Rian was whispering instructions from her seat through a small earpiece. Lee, on the other side of the room, was scratching down the answers to all the questions and trying to look as complacent as possible. Neko-Chan had given her the answers, which she relayed to Lee via walkie talkie earpieces.

Neji's Byakugan took care of his needs. The point of the exam was to cheat and not get caught, and cheat they did.

Rian's hearing was composed of Lee's pencil scratching, and his occasional "Hm" that signaled for her to relay the next answer. She filled in the last numeral, and laid her paper before her. Her crooked handwriting stared up at her from a sheet of full answers. Neko-Chan was checking the answers over, in case he messed a calculation up. Answering every question would be sassing the proctors. In large, bold writing, Rian scratched "_HA-HA_!" at the top of the paper.

Lee's pencil scratched like static in her ears. She scraped at the sweat and earwax covered earpiece.

The clock in the corner of the room ticked towards the time limit. The spotter's eyes were boring holes into her back. The other genin's pencils scored papers, clicked rhythms on desktops, and tapped headbands. Heavy breathing, sighs, coughs. Indescribable noises. It was all too loud.

Rian closed her eyes and cradled her head in her hands. The tension was making her head hurt.

"Rian?" a voice crackled through her headpiece, a low, rough whisper.

"What?" she spat into the metal apparatus, eyes melded shut.

"… Thank you."

Rian's eyes opened, and she stared at the blending colors of her wooden desk. That strange feeling was back. She clutched her chest. Her heart was hurting. Her stomach, her head-

God. What was wrong with her? She wanted to gouge her entrails out, to make this damned feeling stop. But, for some reason, Rian closed her eyes again, and smiled the smallest bit.

"You're welcome, Lee."

And the pain eased some.

* * *

Neji flipped their Earth scroll up into the air and caught it between his fingers.

Rian crammed the last crumpled form that made the team liable for their own lives into the hands of a zukin-clad proctor and bounded over to her team.

"Yes! Damn, I thought we'd never finish that stuff!" she all but yelled. A pair of milky white eyes scowled at her. Lee, nearby, was doing pushups under mumblings of "If I cannot do 100 pushups now, .. Neji will suddenly be overcome by a fit of Out of Character-ness and try to lick my face like a dog."

Rian cringed, imagining in the sight. Lee needs more inspiration.

Anko was shouting instructions from a rooftop near the entrance to the "Forest of Death". The rules were explained, the papers signed. Now all that needed to be asked was-

"OK, where are we going put the scroll?" Neji asked flatly.

Two pairs of blank eyes stared up at him. Their neck of the woods was quiet for a moment.

"Our shruiken pouches?" Lee tried.

"No, that's the number one place an enemy would check." Neji said, sounding exasperated. "Think of somewhere any of us genin would never think to check."

More creative slumps, more silence.

"Well, Rian could always carry it in her-" Neji stopped, and colored a shade of red.

Lee looked at Rian from his spot on the ground quizzically. Rian looked confused, then turned irate.

"Don't look at me! I cut those things off years ago!" she yelled, pulling her shirt collar low enough to reveal a gigantic white slash from her shoulder and down.

Neji's look went from shocked to 'about to faint', and Lee went to begin to mop up his gigantic nosebleed.

* * *

"It was only a suggestion." Neji reminded her.

Rian's reply was a scowl that read bloody murder. The kind that required maintenance teams and pressure cleaners to adequately clean up.

Lee was holding an icepack to his nose. If the cold could reach through the gauze they'd jammed up his nose, it might do it some good.

"Nearly killed poor Lee, and suggested I let the enemy molest me. Yeah. A suggestion, Neji.".

Neji's face showed embarrassment, and a bit of embarassment. Lee moaned, and Rian handed him another Kleenex to ram into his sinus cavity. He stood up, a bit wobbly from the blood loss, but was able to give a full-fledged good-guy pose when asked his condition.

A proctor approached, a set of keys jingling on his hip. His scarred hands groped for a numbered piece of steel.

Rian heaved her pack up her back (inside, the scroll of Lee's discontent disguised as a training manual.). Neji stood, looking as bored and as ever. Lee was standing as quietly as could be expected for a person almost exploding with anxiety.

The chain link gate popped, and grinded open on rusty hinges before them.

"Go!" the proctor cried, and pointed two fingers into the depths of the leafy death trap that was to be their residence for the next five to six days, depending if they survived.

Three flashes crashed past him, rocketing on charka-fueled feet, past the barbed wire fencing and dissolved into the folds of the foliage. Four pairs of eyes took in the dark place, sunlight streaming through an intermittent break in the branches as they flashed past, blurring into a long slash of yellow light. Shrouds of fog that tingled with contact, and morning dew glistening, wet and cold on the foliage.

The bright, blessed days of Team Gai had come to an end.

And it was reckoning time.

A/N: I know it sounds weird now, but the whole scar thing will be explained later. You may find there's more of Rian missing then just that, and some of it is in her head. Yeah. Confusing. See, Rian's relationship with Neko-Chan is pretty deep, and it's about to get a serious shock. Basically, it's gonna get Rian down to the heart of her dependence on Neko-Chan. I've known exactly what Neko-Chan was since before I started writing this, but my wonderful readers may be a bit surprised. Not revealing anything until the last chapter. Thinking maybe… 8 or 10. Not sure. We needed another cliff hanger, and everyone seemed to like the last one.

Bear with me, please. I PROMISE THERE WILL BE ANGST IN THE NEXT CHAPTER!

Also, I was worrying about Gai and Lee being OOC. They may seem silly now, but something's gonna iron them out a bit. Trust me. And Lee's gonna get knocked around enough to straighten him up a lil' bit, and remind him he's not invincible. He has kryptonite, too.

My cousin Lindsey's got me singing various Panic at the Disco songs. I only love her for her Ipod. J I also discovered Nickelback in Florida. "Saving Me". Owns. That song inspired me so much. I've even got a place for it in the coming chapters. (It's not a songfic chapter. No worries there.)

Please review. I'm reeeeally nervous about this chapter.


	7. Lessons in Love

**Author's Note: Wow! Fast update. My reviewers -hackchoke- will be happy. And, oh dear god. Fluff. Just a smidgen. And a little Lee/Sakura. But don't worry. It's only strengthening Rian and Lee's relationship!**

**This chapter dedicated to the wonderful bowserjr. Your reviews are keeping this story alive by giving me the courage to post it, girl! It's nice to have a non-prep reviewing my stories, and telling me what she really thinks. I wish you luck, happiness, and reviews on your stories, as well!**

"Slow.. Down.. _Dammit_!"  
Rian reached out a hand and snatched the back of Lee's shirt. He successfully stopped, jerked backwards, and gave a fulfilling "GACK!"

Rian dropped to the branch she was standing on, hanging her legs over the expanse of world beneath them. The nausea made her feel like she was pitching forward and downwards.

"You're being.. Overly excited about this. We're gonna.. Deplete our chakra.. And then where will we be?" Rian gasped out.

Lee stood rapt, hands at his side. "But, I want to find our enemies before they find us." he said, as a Light Breeze ® blew past and ruffled his black hair.  
His jaw was locked determinedly, giant eyes clenched into a scowling glance. Leaves blew past, adding a hint of drama to the moment. One could almost here the music in the background.

Rian rolled her eyes. Lee was so dramatic.

"Bull. Doesn't matter who finds who. We'll kick their asses either way." she said, taking a swig from her canteen and tightening her headband, the gleaming metal shining from under her bangs.

"Are you so confident in your abilities?" Neji asked, his voice ready for a verbal wrestling match.

"No. But I'd try anyway." she said.

Neji sat down in the sand a few feet from Rian.  
"She does have a point. We've been running for hours." he said wearily, tipping his head backwards.

"Come, come my youthful teammates! We must press onward, and complete the standards set by the proctors of the exam!" you-know-who said, pointing up at the sky.  
Rian gave him a look of utter disgust.  
"Not without hyrodoga, we're not." she said. "We've been running around in this damned forest forever"

Lee's eyebrow went up. "Hyrodoga?"

Rian whipped out a pocket of red pills. "Soldgier pills. They can keep a shinobi up and running for days."  
She immediately flipped a pill into her mouth, and swallowed loudly. Another swig of water, the liquid dribbling out the corner of her mouth.

She offered her hand to Neji, who took one of the red capsules in his hand and looked at it. Lee rolled one in his fingers hesitantly.

"Oh, come on. It's just a pill." she said. "I'll swallow five if you don't want to eat them alone"

Lee looked at her, and slammed the pill into his throat. Instants later, he was gagging crimson powder up onto the sand, wrenching and heaving.  
"You drink it with water, doofus." she said.

Neji clapped his into his mouth and washed the tablet down with his own water. "Isn't this considered doping? Is it illegal?" he asked.  
"I dunno. But I don't see any surveillance cameras anywhere, so.." Rian shrugged.

Lee managed to swallow his, making a face that said he'd swallowed a pile of cat excretion.

"Where'd you get those things?" Neji said absentmindedly, looking upwards toward a break in the trees.  
"Stole them." she said, tucking them tenderly back into her pocket.

The drugs working their ways into their systems, they sat down to formulate a plan.

"I think-" Neji began. "We should split up. Gives us a better chance of finding something. Anything."

"Brilliant, Captain Kirk. And we find each other in this god forsaken forest how?"

Neji gave her a look. "We could meet back here."

Neko-Chan nodded. He was already calculating their exact location in his mind for further use.

"Right. Even if you don't come into contact with another team." he said, standing.  
"See you all in a few hours!" Lee said cheerfully, as though it were a D-Class mission.

Rian saluted, and bounded off into a random direction, already conversing with her cat as to their next action.

* * *

"There's a couple of freaks sitting behind that bush." Rian pointed out.

A pair of cat eyes surveyed the three figures slouched near a feeble camp fire being fed by a mousy teenager in glasses.

_I can't tell if it's a genjutsu._

"We'll just have to find out." Rian smiled, brandishing a kunai.

_Hey, don't get cocky now. We don't know their forte jutsu-wise._

"Oh come off it. That one's got glasses." she said, sounding exasperated.

_You just want to see their blood bounce on the sand.  
_

"Don't we always?" she smirked.

_Hee-hee. Alright, go._

Rian formed a familiar hand seal, and sat down for a bit more observation before striking.

Yoroi poked the fire with a stick. Nearby, his teammates were slouched, bloodied from running through the forest all day.  
Kabuto kicked Misumi, who responded with a loud snore, and brushed his hand over the impact.

"He could sleep through the Great Shinobi Wars." he said wistfully. Yoroi nodded his eyeless head.

Kabuto looked at him. "Do you still have that scroll?"

Yoroi tossed him the rolled paper, without looking away from his stick. "Doesn't matter much anyway."  
Kabuto held the paper fondly in his hand, smirking at it.

"Those kids sure are stupid. I just strolled up and took it right away from them." he said.  
"Well, they can just-"

Rian shot by on chakra-fueled feet, and snatched the scroll out of Kabuto's hand. She bounded through the bushes with nary a sound.

Kabuto looked wide-eyed at his hand for a moment, before looking over towards where she'd disappeared.

"-sigh- Stay here." he said, heaving himself up like a husband asked to take out the trash.

"Don't hurt her too badly." Yoroi said, sounding like an unconcerned parent.

Kabuto patted him on the shoulder, and pulled a few poison senbon from his pocket.  
He ran silently, ears tuned to the smallest frequency of noise from small footsteps. He smirked when the sound waves reached his ears, and ricocheted off a tree, turning a flip in mid-air and landing gracefully on his feet. He brandished the senbon, and continued after our character.

"Damn, damn, damn, damn, damn." she chanted, zigzagging wildly.

_You have a brilliant mind. Use it._

Rian sped forward, thinking. She smiled, and her hands flew into another set of hand seals.

Kabuto exploded through the bushes behind her. Kid was fast, he'd give her that.

The forest was now silent. He looked around. Just a few scattered shruiken on the ground, obvious remnants of an earlier battle.  
Surely the kid wouldn't be stupid enough to try and fight him-

Two dopplegangers burst from the bushes simultaneously. One slashed at his legs with a kunai, the other shot a shruiken at his head.

Kabuto maneuvered away from them, grasping a head in each hand. He smashed the two skulls together as the bodies both exploded in smoke. He waved a hand to drive the acrid mist away. Now, what was the kid's next move?

Shruiken filling his back answered his question. He turned in time to dodge Rian leaping and swiping at the face with a melee knife. She rebounded and slashed the skin beneath his chin, splattering blood across her face, flipping past him backwards. She pushed herself back to kick his face-

Kabuto snatched her foot before it hit hismug and threw her against a nearby tree. Her head knocked against the wood , sending a reverberating noise through the hollow trunk.

Her eyes widened, before it exploded.

"Another doppleganger." Kabuto stated, preparing more senbon casually.

He yanked the shruiken out of his back. 3 measly throwing stars weren't going to hurt him.

"Alright, girlie. Where'd you go now?" he asked himself more then her.

The ground erupted beneath him. Earth style, of course.

Rian clenched her teeth, and let out a growl as she drove the knife straight upwards. Kabuto looked down, leaped out of the way- Too late. The kunai shot up, through the bottom of his chin.

Rian backflipped away from him, dodging a few shruiken, before backhanding him with her own.

Kabuto caught the knives with his own arm, yanking the second-hand weapons out and firing them back.

_Great. We're playing catch with our own weapons._

"Not for long…" she whispered. Her hands dove to her shruiken pouch. Kabuto readied himself for another barrage of metal clashing. Rian pulled her hand back, summoning chakra into the weapon.

She smiled, and let out another growl as she threw it forward with all the power in her body.

The thing shot towards Kabuto. He pulled up his hands to duck-

**SPLAT!**

… Splat? Kabuto had to look at his arms. He moved the left one, turning his attention from Rian to his forearm. His glasses sharpened as he trained his eyes to the familiar-smelling weapon.

It was a mixture of red, brown, green.. Pickles?

He stuck a finger into a larger dollop. The stuff was sliding down his arm, making sponging noises as it hit the ground. The brown dripped down his finger, while the red didn't look too sure where it wanted to go.

He stuck his finger into his mouth and sucked. Kabuto smacked his lips before looking confused.

"Meat?"

Rian shot in the opposite direction of Kabuto, her chakra cracking on her feet. She ducked past a large branch hanging nearly to the ground. Sweat poured down her face, cooling and salty on her dry lips.

_That was low.  
_

"Hey, we had to get rid of that meat pie somehow." she said, as she leapt up and took to the trees.

* * *

Rian tucked her legs to her chest, flipping her body over itself. At the last possible moment, she put her legs back under her, landing cleanly on her feet, one hand balancing her body.

"You're late"

Neji was looking down at her with judging eyes. Really, did he look at anybody any way besides that?

"I got the scroll. Shut up." she said, tossing him the painted blue paper. Neji caught it, and began running his fingers over it.

"Pretty dumb. How do you know it's me?" he asked her.

"Easy. I may not be me, but you automatically acted like I was myself." she said.

Neji spun the light blue scroll on his index finger.

"Lee isn't with you?" he stated more then asked.

"No. Last I saw him, he was going-" Rian squinted, and stuck her tongue out. "That way." she pointed to their right.  
Neji looked at his wrist. "He's late"

Rian suddenly got what he was saying. "But Lee is… fanatical about punctuality"  
She swallowed, trying to hide the fear in her voice that suddenly overcame her like a wave of panic. "You don't think he got into some trouble?"

"Lee's a hotheaded idiot. He'd pick a fight with a little old lady if he thought it was 'youthful'." Neji spat, and kicked at the ground, dislodging a rock.

Rian sighed. "Alright. Any ideas at all?"

Neji formed the hand seals for his kekkei genkai, the veins around his eyes constricting as a wave of grey chakra lit them, laced with the taut black lines.  
He searched a few kilometers around for a familiar chakra signature. Rian stood, observing the use of the Hyuuga's bloodline power. She'd never seen it up close before.

_Looks scare-eh._

Neji said nothing more, jut started off in a general direction. Rian blinked, and followed him.

"Let's hope he doesn't get himself killed before we find him." Neji said without emotion in his voice.  
Something in Rian's stomach coiled.

* * *

Well, he wasn't dead, but pretty damn close.

Rian caught up with Neji about when the Otonin disappeared. Panting, she crouched low to the branch. Neji's shorts flapped at his legs a few feet away. Neji had black hair on his legs. Ew.

She scanned the area before she spotted her unconscious teammate laying face-first on the ground.

The pink haired bitch ("Sakura". Rian preferred "bitch") slid over to him inconspicuously, almost as though she were embarrassed to be seen near him, even when he wasn't throwing his body around in various poses or proclaiming things about youth.  
Rian hopped over. Nothing she didn't deal with _every single day_.

Sakura had pulled him up, looking around as though uncomfortable to have her hands on him.

"I'll take him from here." Rian told her, and Sakura smiled gratefully and rather quickly, returning to her Sasuke-kun.

Rian pulled Lee upright. His head flopped backwards, and his body was limp against her hands. But his hot breath snorted against her palm when she held it up to his nose.

She mentally reminded herself to wash away any traces of Lee boogers when she got to the nearest outhouse.

She sat back, getting ready for what she was about to do, took a deep breath-

And sunk her teeth into his shoulder.

Lee's eyes popped wide open, and he screamed, instantly shoving her away. Rian rolled head-over-heels backwards, before popping her head up.

"WHAT DID YOU DO?" he yelled, clawing open his collar to look at his shoulder. Everyone with half a mind looked away.

"You were unconscious!" she reminded him. He snorted.

"Well, you could have slapped me or something. You didn't have to bite me!" he practically yelled. Luckily, the rest of their surrounding group was preoccupied with a certain kitsune, Uchiha, or Haruno kid.

"Oh, damn! Look at this! You ripped a chunk of my skin off!" he cried. Rian didn't smell any blood, but Lee was freaking out about it, so.

"I'm not kidding! Look!" Lee shoved his arm into her face.

Rian lost her balance at the sudden movement, and found her face buried in Lee's neck. The BARE FLESH of his neck. His chin was pinning her head down, and hers was digging into his collar bone. Neko-Chan was throwing the first throes of a mental fit.

"See that!" he asked angrily, pointing.

"YES!" she all but shouted. Her face was painted with shock at the rather unexpected convergence. She was practically suffocating against his shoulder, rather muscled shoulder. Lee smelled like blood and grass stains and, OH GOD. She wanted to yell "EW!" and throw a fit like the cat in her head was, pounding against the walls of her cranium, or brain, or wherever he was.

Lee shoved her face away from him, and set to bandaging the speck of blood that had appeared from Rian driving a fang into his shoulder. Rian was scrubbing away at the Lee germs she was sure her face was covered in.

She wiped at her eyes with both hands, trying desperately to scrape away the feeling of yuck on her skin, while Neko-Chan roared and shouted blood oaths.

Rian paused. Lee was sniffling and talking to Sakura again.  
One hand wandered over her stomach she bit her bottom lip. One hand clenched her head as it began to ache, and her heart pounding inside her chest like a bird in her ribcage.

"Neko-Chan, what's wrong with me!" she half cried, burying her face in her brown shirt and feeling tears testing her eyelids.

The cat calmed. "Nothing.. Nothing.. Just, get up. Let's go.." he coaxed, his voice soft.

As Rian got to her feet, she realized Neko-Chan didn't sound so sure himself.

* * *

Three hours later, they all staggered through the door of the waiting room.

Lee bounding in ahead of the others, shouting their victory to anyone within earshot and swinging the Scrolls.

Rian trotted in after him, and Neji came clopping behind her.  
They opened the scrolls, and basically did what Naruto's team did when they got to the end of the exam, because that would be stupid to write out, and rather boring to read, don't you think?

So, they proceeded to group with the other kids who had made it through and wait. And wait. And wait.

Rian twiddled her thumbs Neji sat still, relaxing. Lee was tired, and holding his shoulder, which made Rian shudder. It was so boring in this place!

She tried sitting quietly, counting to a trillion. Nothing worked. She slumped her head.  
3 more days of this?

She was glad they'd made it through on the second day, let alone alive. But, when you're bored you really don't think about that.

Neko-Chan was taking a nap. Rian almost felt like doing the same, but no, the hyrodoga kept her awake.

She tried cracking her knuckles 500 times, but that didn't work either. Neji looked annoyed after Pop #4, so she stopped.

Lee was looking bored as well. The other teams (Kurenai's cell, the Sand Sibs, and a team of Sound nin, not the ones Rian had stolen the scroll from.) were all in various stages of boredom induced stupor.

Rian sighed loudly.

Another team shuffled in. Good. Misery loves company.

This continued for about three days, in which time Rian learned Neji blinked twenty five times a minute, learned that when Lee wakes up in the morning he pops his elbows, the puppet master of the Sand team breathes forty seven times a minute, and his scary looking little brother has to go to the bathroom at least eight times a day.

A chuunin walked into the room. Every eye jumped to him, except the ones that were behind eyelids, asleep, who's owners were then smacked awake by a random team member.

"Right. The First Part of the Chuunin Exams has concluded." he said.

Everyone in the place cheered, Naruto loudest of all. They were encouraged to gather in a formation in some sort of arena. The Hokage approached the group, while variously ranked nin milled about them all.

He pulled the pipe from his teeth, and began speaking to them about the procedures for the next exam.

Blah blah blah, preliminaries, blah blah, narrowing down the chuunin applicants more, yada yada fight to the death. Rian twice almost nodded off on the guy next to her, who looked rather frightened of her. She popped a hyrodoga in her mouth, and listened to the Hokage as the pills worked their way through her.

"..And so, we'll be pairing off people for the Preliminary fights now." he said with finality.

Rian noticed he had eyelashes like Lee's. Scary.

She cast a look over at him. His face was stuck in his scowling battle mask. The fists at his sides were clenched tight and he scowled at really nothing at all.  
Her heart gave a jump, and she tore her eyes away, clutching her brown shirt over the aching wound in her chest. Her head started to ping, and her stomach felt tickled, like she was going to throw up.

Neko-Chan was absorbing the instructions. Rian's green eyes searched for something to focus her attention on. She scanned the jounin senseis standing behind the Hokage.

A blinding smile alerted her to Gai's spot. A woman beside him yawned, crimson nails matching her crimson eyes.  
Asuma-sensei's trench knives scratched together under his vest.

A noise tore her away from her hazy observations. Mainly, the "ONG" of the first match being presented on the electronic scoreboard. "Uchiha Sasuke and Akado Yoroi." she said aloud, shrugging. No point watching this match.

The teams scattered to various places on the landing to watch. Rian leaned against the wall as Lee and Neji took their spots at the railings.

Lee no doubt wanted to see the great Sasuke Uchiha fight, since he had been almost beaten by Lee himself.

The hyrodoga took it's affect, and Rian had the energy to muscle up and stand with her teammates. She tried to remember the last time she'd slept.

She'd been anxious the night before the exam, so she'd barely gotten in a few hours. And she'd been popping pills the entire time in the Forest. Sleeping would have been too dangerous. Five, six days, she figured. But she'd been OK, and continued to watch the match with Neko-Chan. He was scoping out opponents for the third exams.

"Hey, look! Sakura-Chan made it through!" he whispered to Rian, pointing across the arena where the pink-haired bitch was looking nervously at Sasuke as he strutted onto the fighting floor.

Chan? Rian blinked, and looked at Lee. His smile was bright as he waved to Sakura, who didn't even notice hi, so enraptured was she in her Sasuke-kun.

"Lee?" she asked, looking at the Haruno girl.

"Mm-hmm?" he said happily, still smiling at her.

"Why do you pay so much attention to Sakura?" she forced herself to use her real name.

Lee didn't even look down at Rian. "Because I love her, of course!"

Love? Rian's head began to rack for the word 'love'. What was that word? Love. What was that? Love. Love, familiar, it sounded familiar.. A book. She'd read it in a book, but hadn't understood it. Love. Love. Love.. Nothing. Love?

"What's that?" she asked quietly, still trying to find the word in her vocabulary.

Lee laughed startlingly loud, but when he stopped, Rian's questioning eyes were locked in his.

"You don't know what love is?" he asked incuriously.

Rian clenched her head between her hands, her elbows balanced on the metal railing.  
"I've heard it before. But, what is it?" she asked in a strangled voice. Her head was hurting from trying to think so hard. Neko-Chan gave a small gasp.

Lee wanted to ask her if she was joking again, but her dark green eyes under the brown bangs that nearly hid them said she wasn't just playing around.

He cleared his throat and shuffled his hands behind his back.

"Well." he began, coughing. "Love. Love is.."  
Rian's gaze asked him to continue.

"Love is… well, it's.. it's a feeling." he finished rather quickly.  
"How so?"

Her eyes were boring into his, questioning him. "Like, like what I feel for Sakura. I-I feel, like I could spend the rest of my life with her."

"So, you want to be her friend." Rian finished, looking disappointed she had ever gotten so riled up on the subject at all.  
"No!" he said, catching her attention again. "It's more. Like,. Like you could just.."

His eyes swept to Sakura. Her pink hair framed her face, the split ends cut for her freedom gently caressing her bare shoulders, her jade eyes worried as they followed her crush around the arena. Her delicate eyebrows portraying sorrow of the utmost specialty, her lower lip out in a small pout.

"..Like you could look into their eyes forever and never grow tired of them. Or like-"

He turned to Rian, who's eyes were wide with attempting to comprehend Lee's stuttering information.

"Do you have parents, Rian?" he asked.

Rian was staring into space. "No." she answered, her voice sounding as though she was studying something very hard.

Lee's eyebrows went up a little, but he continued. "That's love. When your dad plays catch with you in the back yard, or your mom kisses you goodnight, that's love."

Rian blinked a few times, looking mystified.

He probably shouldn't tell her there were different kinds of love. It might confuse her.

She leaned against the railing further. "My dad never played catch with me." she said, almost entranced. "And my mom never kissed me goodnight."

Lee's eyebrows lowered in pity. "Then I feel very sorry for you, Rian"

Rian looked at him. He was beginning to look sad himself.  
"My parents both died when I was very young." he explained. "But I remember all the love they gave me, and how they took care of me. And Gai-sensei loves me, too. He loves me like a son."

Rian looked back at the cracks in the concrete.

Love, love. Love must be like Neko-Chan!

She smiled. "Thanks, Lee."  
Lee looked surprised at her sudden recovery, but smiled sweetly. "Anytime, Rian-Chan."

Another ONNG sounded from scoreboard, and many eyes turned to look at the electrical lettering.  
"Rian, it's you!" Lee pointed.

Rian looked up from her trance. In bright red letters was her name, and that of another shinobi.

She smirked deviously, her and Lee's conversation fading in her memory.

_Yes! Our turn._

She hopped down from the balcony to face her opponent, landing gracefully on her feet.

She was a tall girl of about fourteen, lean and full in appearance. Four ponytails spiked from the back of her head. She leaned her body against the fan she was carrying and smirked at Rian.

Rian stood to her full height, 4'5, but still.

Neko-Chan growled, baring his fangs and yellow eyes shining with determination.

"Well, they gave me the midget-nin, eh?" the girl asked mockingly. Her eyes were seductive, her voice smooth, like honey Rian smirked, and Neko-Chan bared his teeth once more.

"Woo-hoo! Go Rian!" came a call from the stands. A deeper voice cried, "Make me proud, my youthful charge!"

Gai. She smiled. Lee.

.. Lee.

"Neko-Chan", she asked, eyes wide. "Do you love me!"

"Right! Let the sixth match begin!" Hayate cried.

The cat didn't answer.

**A/N: Chapter 8 is coming soon. Please review!**


	8. Blood Fist

**Author's Note: Another quick update! I'm making up for all the time I kept you waiting, I think. Watching various Panic! At the Disco AMV's. I'm telling you, these guys are great inspirations. Listen to a couple of their songs and tell me they don't make you want to wallow down and write!**

**Anyway, this chapter dedicated to my newest reviewer, Kiyari... Kiyari... Kiyari something! This one's for you and your animal crackers, girl!**

Temari flipped her fan behind her, a backdrop of yellow and red outlining her body.

Dramatic bitch, Rian thought, pulling into attack stance. Her hand ventured back into her shruiken pouch.  
She smiled as her hand clasped the familiar metal of her favorite weapons. She slid her fingers into the knuckle spaces, four fingers clenching the skin of her palm to hold them in place.

"All right, I plan on finishing this fast." Temari stated, as though Rian were a business clientele.

"Good. I'll gouge out your intestines as per your wish." Rian shot back. She wondered why battles had to begin with threats. Perhaps to impress the spectators.

"Ph. Can you reach?" the blonde taunted.

"I'm not going to listen to idle threats anymore." Rian said. "Fight me, or stand there while I gut you"

Temari's smirk became more devious, and she whipped her weapon before her, sending a cascading whirlwind towards Rian. She shifted aside to avoid the small tornado.

"You'll have to do better then that." Rian said, pulling her hands from behind her back.

Gai gave an audible gasp at the weapons Rian brandished before her. She crossed the blades in front of her face, an attack stance of ferality.  
"Gai-sensei.. what are those things?" Lee asked, giving the trench blades a questioning look.

"Claws?" Temari asked, her amused look faltering a bit.  
Kankuro shivered a bit, glancing at the weaponry, but having faith in Temari. His sister was an elite of the Sand genin. No way this little Leaf midget was going to get a drop of blood off her, perverse forbidden art or not. Gaara's expression gave no change.

Gai gulped, glancing at the blades welded to a pair of brass knuckles. "Those are the approved weapons of- Sanken.", wondering how his own student could have gotten caught up in such an art.

"Sanken?" Neji asked, not really interested, just wanting to make himself known.

"Yes. Sanken- better known as 'Blood Fist'. It's a highly violent method of taijutsu." Gai responded, nodding his head.

"Violent?"

"Yes. It's more sophisticated mutilation then anything." he said, keeping his eyes on Rian. "The user employs hand-held blades, such as the ones Rian is carrying. It's basically-"

_-mutilating your enemies beyond recognition._

Rian smiled brighter behind the splays of light between the knife blades. They'd been practicing this, this forgotten art, in secret, after regular training, for months. Neko-Chan had finally dubbed her proficient in the art that she loved so much. But, he reminded, it was to be kept under wraps, as an extra measure of caution, until it was absolutely necessary to reveal her little secret weapons.

"It's- it's highly bloody." Gai continued, trying to keep the nervousness out of his voice. "I've seen our own, torn to pieces, bloodied and hacked beyond recognition. It's- it's terrifying, is what it is. Very powerful, but taboo by modern Shinobi society."

Images of piles of flesh dismembered by highly advanced Sanken proficients who seemed to liquefy themselves to avoid punches and katanas, sliding between limbs and under defenses to attack with slicing, dismembering sharp blades began to slide-show through his mind.

"They're undertakers, the followers of this art. Anything goes. Dismembering corpses, hacking organs that would do serial killers shame." he added.

Hacked? Mutilated? Lee's eyes traced up Rian's small body. She didn't look like the sort of person who could mutilate someone the way Gai was describing. Rian? Blood?  
Maybe, maybe he was wrong.. He'd never really seen her fight. To employ such an art- One only had to look into Gai's eyes, the panic showing through them as hard as he tried to mask it.

"It's not forbidden.. Just, scorned." he whispered, hands gripping the railing so tightly his knuckles shown white. Gai started to calm, taking deep breaths. Rian couldn't be that good. To become a proficient of Sanken, one also had to master extreme agility, absolute mastery of balance.

Temari flipped her fan again, sending another tornado spiraling towards Rian, who hopped to the side and lunged at her.

"Long range attacks won't work." she reminded as she shot towards the fishnet clad Sand nin.

Temari flung her weapon in front of her in desperation. She needed to block.

Rian, too easily, shifted to the side, balancing herself on the edge of the metal clasp of the fan. She gripped the black metal and slammed her leg underneath the apparatus, into Temari's supposedly guarded face. The sand kunoichi reeled, and Rian took less than an instant to attack.

She dropped to the ground in a crouching position, and drove a sweeping kick into Temari's legs. The blonde buckled to the ground in time to catch a kick to the face that sent her spinning backwards, blood splattering from her nose.

Temari skidded across the arena floor, dust kicking up in clouds around her. Kankuro's eyes bulged.  
That little_ shrimp_ had just kicked his sister clear across the floor?

Temari scrambled to her feet, clutching her weapon. Rian had disappeared. The sand nin looked around wildly, every pain sensor tingling. The dust clouds were masking her presence very acutely.  
Temari concentrated, trying to see through the fog of sand-

A hole exploded beneath Temari, delivering her airborne several feet as Rian's earth jutsu sent her splitting up from the earth below. As Temari hovered for an instant, Rian ricocheted off a nearby wall and flipped forward in midair. Her feet struck Temari in the small of her back, flipping her over Rian's head and sending her in a dead-speed impact for the ground.

Rian landed gracefully on both feet, before shooting back and turning flips towards Temari, who was struggling to stand.

Again, Rian struck her with a flying kick, this time balancing on her hands and sending the blonde skidding backwards.

Temari recovered with remarkable speed, and let out a shout as she swung her weapon at Rian.

It was useless, though. Rian slid underneath her defense, and turned in the opposite direction from Temari, crouching in front of her.  
Rian lifted her legs up, hooking them around Temari's waist. The blonde's eyes shot wide.

Rian expertly threw her legs over her head, much like one doing a front flip. This caused Temari to pitch forward, and, excellently delivered, to smash herself headfirst into the concrete. The sickening sound of cracking bone filled the electric atmosphere of their fight.

Her body flopped to the ground limply as our protagonist hopped back to her feet. By the time Rian had turned around, Temari had recovered and was back to brandishing her fan and standing, albeit a bit lamely, her knees trembling. Blood was dripping down her hair, staining the back of her white shirt.  
Rian's last kick left a bit of blood dripping from the corner of her mouth.

Temari was panting, winded, and losing blood. Her eyes were half-slitted from exhaustion.

She let out a cry, in some feeble attempt to win back her pride, and swung her folded weapon at Rian, who had resumed to a standing position.

"I can't see anything!" Lee practically yelled, balancing on the railing with one hand, the other over his eyes to see in the glint of sunlight. Who had yelled? Rian? Temari? There was too much dust.

Temari's yell issued louder as Rian ducked from the useless attack. As Temari's spasming arms recovered from the powerful swing, Rian took her opportunity, drew a clawed hand upwards-

Lee's eyes widened as a gasp escaped his throat. Gai made a sharp intake of breath.

The dust finally cleared to see Temari, eyes wide, body trembling, impaled on Rian's hand. Her tiptoes barely kept her on the ground. Any more pressure and the blades would penetrate the skin on the other side of her. Blood dripped steadily down onto Rian's hands, and down to red puddles on the ground.

Rian drew the other hand quickly and slashed Temari's face with the four prongs. Another kick sent the limp body of the Sand's likely newest casualty flying before crashing to the sand on the arena floor several feet away. Blood bubbled to the ground, forming a crimson puddle beneath her red streaked shirt. Temari trembled, her consciousness fading from the unbearable pain of the severed organs inside her.

Tears trailed down her cheeks, mixing with the blood of the four slashes carved into her cheek.

Rian stood over Temari's trembling body, blood painted across her arms and face, nearly camouflaging with the stripes of face paint she wore on across her cheeks. Her green eyes were narrowed as she smirked triumphantly at her prey.

"The winner is.. Rian." Hayate exclaimed, though it was clear to anyone watching who had won.

Rian walked casually across the arena and up the stairs as the medics rushed onto the field. She smugly took her place beside Neji and Gai, who watched her with wide eyes, along with Lee.

"Well? Did I give you guys a show?" she said, pretending to pay attention to the blood under her fingernails. She turned to Neji. "Did I embarrass the team?"  
Neji shuddered considerably, and reached out to shake her hand.

"Good job, Rian."

"Thank you." she said, taking it and giving it a good shake. Lee was next.

"Rian.. That was.. Wow." he stuttered, his attention on the copious amount of blood the white-clad medics were trying to cauterize pouring from Temari's groin. "I never would have thought-"

"Hey. All us little guys need an ace in the hole, or we're pretty much road kill." she interrupted.

"I barely gave her a taste, believe me. This art extends a lot further then just stabbing people." Her brain flashed and relished the gore fast movements, excellent balance, and kife blades couls accomplish.

Lee smiled, and gave her a thumbs up. "You truly are a great shinobi, my friend. See? The power of youth never fails!" he exclaimed.

Rian shrugged. "Or sharp, pointy knives, for that matter."

The three teens turned to watch the next match, slumping identically against the thin railing.  
Rian scrubbed at the bottom of her nose, closing her eyes to the new fighters marching out onto the arena.  
"So, answer me. Do you love me?" she asked quietly.

Rian's mind was quiet for a minute. Rian tried to comprehend what the cat was thinking.

_Finally, there came a, No, Rian. I don't love you._

Rian's eyebrow arched in confusion. "But..."

_-Because love is weakness. Love is what you feel for a friend, only a deeper dimension. Which, remember what I told you? Love and friendships only create ties that hurt when they are cut.  
_

Rian stood still for a moment, soaking in Neko-Chan's words. She nodded instants later.  
"I see." she said, comprehension filling her former doubt.

_That's a good girl._

Rian smiled down as Naruto and the Inuzuka boy shot towards each other.  
"Hey, Neko-Chan?"

_Yes?_

"What I feel for you isn't love? What is it, then?"

_No, Rian. If you must call it that, I am the only one in the world you are allowed to love._

"..."

_Because I'm not going anywhere, and I will not die. Your trust, love, and affections need only be to me.  
_

".. I understand." the weight of her statement began pressing on her.

_That's my Rian. Remember, you are not to feel._

Rian nodded. "I don't feel, Neko-Chan."

_Grief, sadness, true elation, love. All are off limits. If you want to become strong, you must avoid these human weaknesses.  
_

"I understand." she said, feeling a bit happy to receive another bit of Neko-Chan's mind.

After all, Neko-Chan knew almost all, she imagined. And she owed him more then her devotion.

He'd come to her when she was lonely, dried her tears, and taught her how to go on.

In fact, she'd long ago abandoned the idea that Neko-Chan was an imaginary creature. She knew, with all her heart, he was real. By some paradox of fate, she had been allowed the privilege of sharing her mind with him. She was grateful for him. He'd helped her take her mediocre taijutsu skills, and turned her into a proficient of an art that took adults many years to master. He taught her how not to feel.  
He taught her everything she knew about being a shinobi. He stayed with her when she was lonely, praised her for a job well done, and never was angry with her.

"Thank you, Neko-Chan." she whispered, smiling brightly.

_You're welcome, Chan._

Uzumaki was proclaimed the winner, and Lee began jumping up and down with joy. More names were announced. Neji strutted out onto the playing field when his name flashed, and his "cousin" Hinata waded her way through his verbal accusations.

_Now, watch the next few matches. We'll need to be on guard for our opponents for the third exam._

"Right!" she said, her green eyes lighting up so much like one morning long ago when Rian's world changed so drastically.

Neko-Chan smiled, and mentally patted her on the head. He cared a great deal for Rian, try as he didn't.  
He wasn't supposed to become attached to humans. It was a rule.

Oh well, he broke a lot of rules by simply existing. Not that he cared. As long as he had a host, he was happy. Well, not happy. More, tolerating the situation. He reminded himself that it would only be a short time before-

Hinata thundered to the ground, ventricular fibrillation overtaking her seizing body. Hayate declared Neji the winner, and Lee cast a concerned glance at Hinata as Kurenai leaned over her.

Rian silently wondered where Lee fit in in the whole "relationships are weaknesses". She supposed "ally" fit him. He was a friend, after all. And he certainly wasn't going to interfere with Rian's life. He was too busy with his own dreams. His attitude surprised her sometimes.

How one could work so hard constantly, only to be beat down mercilessly for his lack of other skills, and still be so cheerful, was beyond anything Rian had ever known. How he could be concerned for everyone else, and fight for something that meant the world to him. Rian had never had anything to fight for, to exist for. Except Neko-Chan. That alone was enough to keep her getting up every morning, but Lee, Lee fought for a person he could see and hold.

He lived for the people he loved. Even though relationships equaled weakness, Rian knew he wasn't weak at all. She'd seen him in action, and she knew for a fact he wasn't weak in the mind at all. From the flashes she got of his mind, he was a real person with more understanding then anyone gave him credit for. He probably didn't help this by wearing green spandex and a mop top haircut. But, he didn't seem to care.

He didn't care that everyone called him a loser and a failure. He just kept persevering, despite the morbid predictions for him. Rian found that- admirable.

Neko-Chan always told her it didn't matter what people thought. All that mattered what was he and her thought. Everybody else could just fuck themselves. And, that was pretty much what Lee was portraying.

A smile crept it's way across her face. Maybe since Lee wasn't weak being his 'friend' didn't mean she was after all.

Lee watched with admiration as Neji tramped up the steps to his group's spot on the landing. He gave him his congratulations, which Neji brushed off.

Gai struck a pose. "The ninth match is coming up! Go, Lee!"

"Eh-uh." Lee said, shaking his head.

Three pairs of eyes looked at the green teen.

"If I've waited this long, I'd rather be the last act." he shrugged, his lips twisted into a pout.

_Ha. He's sulking._

"Well, we'll see soon enough." Rian said, turning back to the current action of the medic nin.

"There's still the fat kid, one of the Sound nin, Lee, and that creepy sand kid." she ticked off on her fingers. "Hey, Lee. Who do you think you'll face?"

He was obviously biting his lower lip. "Not the Sound nin, I hope!" he said, putting his hand over his left ear. The scoreboard gave an electric buzzing, announcing the next match and it's participants as the medics rushed Hinata off the grounds.

"**Yes!** OK, OK, you caught me. See, you can throw a rock at a pole a billion times, but the one time you aim not to hit it, BAM! You do! And that's what I did!" Lee proclaimed, taking a few kicks at the air.

"Yosh!" Gai exclaimed. "Now, Lee. There's something I've noticed no one else seems to know"

"What?"

"That gourd of his… seems suspicious." Gai whispered.

"I see…" Lee said, scribbling Gai's observation down on a notepad he seemed to pull from somewhere on his suit.

"You idiot! You won't be able to read your notes in the heat of battle!" Gai scolded him.

Lee leaned back over his pad. "I see..."

Rian looked away from her insane sensei and his charge. "Who'd Lee get up against?" she questioned herself, looking out into the arena.

A cloud of sand swirled on the other side of the stucco and concrete pen. The grains shrouded a form, who's hands were locked in a foreign hand seal. Rian squinted to see the appearing figure.

The grains finally dissipated, falling back to the crimson splattered floor, revealing a small teenager with a gourd larger then he strapped to his back. A blood red tattoo emblazoned on his forehead poked out from under ruffled red bangs.

But his eyes, black rimmed and teal, were as cold as an arctic sea. Rian felt them glaring back into hers, and though only for an instant, burned her corneas.

She looked away, scratching her eyes as though to make the boy disappear. She knew that look. It harbored such bitterness, anger.  
She paused. Her hands wrapped themselves around the railings until the skin shown white.

Bloodlust.

"Go, Lee!" Gai cried, and Lee leapt down faster then Rian could move and tell him, warn him.  
This kid was dangerous.

Lee's green limbs fluidly moved to his attack stance, and he began a staring match with the Sand genin.

The words "_Your love, emotions, and attentions need only be to me_" kept repeating in her head.

And that was only thing that kept Rian from crying out.

**A/N:** **JUST BECAUSE SHE WON ONE BATTLE DOESN'T MEAN SHE'S A MARY-SUE! Believe me, she's gonna get kicked around in the next match..**


	9. Solitary Shock

**Author' Note: I was up all night typing this. Another sleepless night spent updating Neko-Chan. -sigh- I love being an insomniac racoon.**

**This chapter dedicated to MayanGirl6, a new reviwer, and the only one to say "UPDATE, DAMMIT!" in a review. Yes, that actually makes me update faster. Type that in all caps, please.**

Rian's knees knocked as her wide green eyes blanched down at the pre-battle staring match between Lee and the Sand nin.

"I am very happy to be able to face you so soon." Lee said, centering his hand with his face. Gaara responded with an unsatisfied grunt, and a shift of his shoulders so faint it was nearly undetectable.

Rian's glance flew to the electric board hanging on the far left wall. Lee's name flashed, along with that of his opponent.

"Gaara." The word was sharp and bitter on her tongue. She tried it again, attempting to dull the taste of the name. "Gaa-ra."

"What are you, illiterate?" Neji questioned, leaning self-contentedly against the metal railing.

She turned a death glare on him. "Shut up, Hyuuga-teme."

Neji's eyebrow went up slightly. "Wow. Bloody demon girl has a mouth." he said with mock-surprise.

Rian let out a low growl, and turned hotly back to the source of her discontent.

Gaara was standing stiffly in place, arms crossed over his chest. His eyes were half closed, his posture straight. He was quiet. No trace of emotion played across his white face.

At a glance, he was the picture of politeness and decorum.

But, bubbling beneath the surface, Rian could just feel the emotions swirling beneath the cyborg exterior.

Maybe it was just her. But the inner chaos tumbling inside him was evident in a feeling, like an ulcer on your tongue. It just would not go away. There was something _wrong._

"Hey." A large hand clapped itself on Rian's shoulder, causing her to jump, torn from her mental state of foreboding.

"Lee can handle it! I trained him myself, now didn't I?" Gai said, sounding as though he were praising himself for it.

Rian turned back to the fight, a worried look on her face.

"There's something wrong with this kid." she whispered, praying Neko-Chan would think that was all.

You're right.

Rian's eyes widened. "You know?"

Yes. That boy, is a Jinchuriki.

The world seemed to stop as Rian's thought processes reeled. "Which- which one?"

_Don't you know? That's Subuku no Gaara. Shukaku of the Sand is sealed inside of him._

Rian let out a sigh of relief to throw off anyone who seemed to be noticing, but her stomach was still curdling with worry.

She tried not to be worried for him, she really did. She was trying so hard not to care. But it just kept coming back. Every time she shoved the feeling away, it would rush right back with twice the strength.

Rian.

She forced one eye open, one hand clenching the side of her head, fingers knitted through what brown hair they could grasp.

That monster is what's making you nervous.

Her hand flopped to her side. So that was it. The ravaging chakra pattern was what gave off that aura.

You should never trust monsters. That is something I've subconsciously implanted in you. Your hyper sensitivity is simply a reaction I would be having now.

Rian just looked down at the battle about to begin.

Rian, the more time I spend in your mind, the more I get to know you, become you. I feel what you feel, and you feel what I feel. It's that simple.

It took a minute for the information to process before she nodded quietly. It was simple.

"It's symbiotic. Makes sense." she said aloud.

"Alright, the ninth match, begin!" rang out across the vastness of the stadium.

Lee immediately charged straight at Gaara.

This was it! The first entrances to a defining battle. Lee was fairly exploding with anticipation , and it was all he could do to keep his game face on. He shot forward, feeling himself fairly flying off the ground with anxiety.

He could feel Gai's proud smile even without looking at him. That alone was enough to fuel him forward. Lee prepared himself for a flying kick to the Sand nin's face. He was fairly ecstatic with joy at the fact his opponent was standing stock-still. An easy target. The battle was in the bag, and Lee could practically smell that new Chuunin vest.

Lee brought his foot up, aiming a Konoha Senpuu for Gaara's pale face. He threw himself forward with every muscle in his body, aimed straight for the taut mouth-

A wave of solid sand shot up, knocking Lee's kick off kilter. He gasped, and barely caught himself before he hit the concrete of the floor.

Rian blinked, watching the sand dissolve back into the ground.

Lee's eyes widened, but he sent another kick driving at Gaara's legs. Another sand curtain shot up and blocked it.

Gaara stood stock-still, arms crossed defiantly. Lee punched, and this time the sand chased him away. He paused about ten feet from Gaara. Sand was slowly slithering down his body from the large gourd on his back. The sand melted into a puddle around the red-head's feet, swirling at his ankles with bloodlust.

Now! Lee hop-jumped, skittering across the floor. He drew his fist back- Slam!

His hand connected with solid sand. The levitating grains flew down to block a surprise kick. He winced. His foot felt like it was breaking off as it struck the malleable earth defense. Lee gritted his teeth and winced, vowing to ignore the pain, like he always tried to.

He gave it no other thought, and kept attempting to even touch Gaara, though each time he was only brutalizing the sand barrier that shifted and liquefied to blockade Lee's every movement.

"What is Lee doing? Taijutsu is useless and painful against that wall of sand. He needs to use genjutsu to launch an attack from a distance!"

Rian whirled to see that pink haired bitch looking worriedly down at her admirer, who was turning backflips to get out of the way of the sand that followed his every movement.

She gave Sakura a look of disgust. Last thing she needed was Sakura around her toget onher nerves.

"You bitch. Don't you know he can't?" she asked smartly, acknowledging Lee's handicap.

"What?" Sakura's jade eyes pried for the answer. Rian took a step back.

"Lee has absolutely no ability whatsoever in ninjutsu or genjutsu." Gai answered her. "He is unable to use any technique other then the physical arts."

Lee came to rest on the pair of stone fingers across the arena. Panting, he looked down at his opponent.

Gaara barely shifted. He'd blocked every defense without even moving a finger or altering his blood pressure.

Who was he that controlled sand with mere thought? Perhaps it was a summon he used to marshal the silt.

"Damn." flew from Lee's mouth as he scuttled to form a plan.

"-And that's exactly why he can win!" Gai perked. Rian and Sakura gave him identical looks.

Gai straightened into a good guy pose, noticing the lull in the battle.

"Lee! Take them off!" he called.

What? Lee gave his sensei a glance, thoughts reeling. His hand snapped to a salute.

"Bu-but Gai-sensei! That is supposed to be used only when I am protecting precious people!" he stuttered.

"It's alright! I'll allow it!" Gai called back, smiling.

Lee lowered his salute, and gave a small laugh. Sitting cross-legged, he yanked at the Velcro of his legwarmer until the fabric gave way. A combination later, and the weight beneath it gave way. Repeating the process on the other leg, Lee grabbed one weight in each hand and cinched his orange monstrosities back on, standing up.

"Right!" he declared. "Now I can move freely!"

Baki shrugged. "Removing a pair of weights won't allow him to keep up with Gaara."

Rian smirked, and steadied herself for what was coming.

Lee dropped his weights. They thundered to the ground, sounding explosively as they struck the concrete floor. Everybody in the room visibly flinched, gasped, or steadied themselves against the railings from the rumblings of the impact. Two smoldering holes in the concrete marked where the discarded training devices indented themselves after the fall.

The expression on Baki's face was priceless.

"Oh, Gai. The most sickeningly sweet, sentimental type of training." Kakashi said from his spot a few feet away. "Haven't you overdone it a little?"

Naturally, Kakashi (and anyone's) negative comments were unheard by the elder Green Beast, who was sitting back to watch the show.

Gaara's eyes were boring holes into the back of Lee's head as he bent down. The sand nin had not moved or even gave any sign he was actually conscious besides the occasional blink throughout the entire incident.

He happened to blink, eyes still locked on Lee. When they reopened, the green clad teenager had disappeared from his spot.

WHAM! The shield was hit from behind. Gaara looked wildly back to the spot where Lee had been sitting, and back behind himself. A flash of green caught his eye, before a kick exploded to the left of him.

A bandaged fist tapped his side. He looked up once more to see a blue sandal aimed directly at his face. The sand shot up, as per Gaara's request, but the edge of Lee's foot tapped Gaara's nose.

Gaara's teal eyes widened. This kid was surpassing the sand barrier that surrounded him!

A fist patted the back of his head, as the sand surrounded Lee's fist. A roundhouse kick poked his leg.

"He's going so fast the sand can't keep up with him!" Sakura exclaimed.

"No duh, bitch." Rian said smugly. Neko-Chan smiled. Hate was an emotion not only unrestricted, but encouraged.

In the back of her mind, Rian was stomping all over her worry. If Lee kept pulling aces out of his pockets, Gaara was in for a hell of a time. Jinchuriki or not, he was screwed.

"-But, even though he cannot do ninjutsu or genjutsu, Lee spent all his time working hard, making work and exercise his obsession. So even if he lacked elsewhere, he'd still be great as-" Gai rambled importantly.

Lee zoomed behind Gaara, drawing the sand man's attention for an instant, leaped above him, spinning head over heels.

"-As a taijutsu specialist!"  
Lee slammed downward, driving his feet down onto Gaara's head. Gaara stumbled, his head reeling. The sand barrier appeared instants later, but not before the damage was done.

Lee landed crouched on his feet, panting harder. Blood appeared on the cut down Gaara's cheek as the sand nin stood slumped at the waist, arms hanging in front of him.

"I'm wearing him down." Lee panted, standing up and stepping into attack position once more.

"In terms of speed, Lee is almost unsurpassable." Gai stated.

Sakura looked slightly cheered at Lee's victories so far. She drew one hand to her mouth, smiling.

Your little friend is quite the speedster, Rian. It'd be interesting if you got paired with him in the finals.

A look of horror stole across Rian's face.

You'd have to stab your own teammate. Now, that'd be interesting.

The thought of such an action shocked her. A slut from the Sand country in an exam was one thing, but, her own teammate? Lee, even?

_Why do you hesitate? You love drawing blood. So what if it's from an alliance?_

Her fingers curled with atrocity, as though she had already committed the foul deed the cat proclaimed of.

Rock Lee? What if she killed him? Lee's blood? Somehow, it didn't hold that same cinnamony sweet metallic promise that everyone else's did.

Her head whirled like a stream in a flood. Sanken users had to be especially heartless, to perform some of the more autrostic attacks. They had to be able to heartlessly kill anyone by a Kage's order, even their own family. Or that's what Neko-Chan said.

Was she not a proficient because there was one person she didn't want to harm, and possibly kill?

Why Lee, she wondered? Her stomach started to ache as she imagined the autrosities of an upper class Sanken move exploding through a torn abdomen, charka-charged blades imploding vital organs, wide eyes bloodshot, screaming in pain as the target slumped over, blood pouring from his body, entrails poking out of a gaping hole trying to be feebly covered with a shaking bloody half-bandaged, mangled hand, face dismembered, blood soaked torn lip hanging from his face, eyes gouged-

Oh, god. Did they really expect her to do that? To her own teammate?

She bit her lower lip. Was Chuunin rank worth the life of someone, especially Lee?

Lee.

Her head throbbed as the random images of destruction and bloody carnage suddenly, suddenly the victim became him. Black eyes implicatively begging for a reason, a reason as crimson rained from a gaping, jagged slash mark in his stomach. Blood, his blood burned. It wasn't sticky and fulfilling, like the Sand nin's. It was- hot, acidic. Guilt, some sort of emotion she wasn't supposed to feel. She had to do this, she had-

She bit down until she could feel blood in her mouth, and clenched the railing until her forearms shook.

.. If she had to fight him, she'd forfeit. She couldn't do that to him. Even if she was only imagining it.

For some strange reason that seemed to defy every logic of fighting and shinobi rules she had been taught, she wouldn't want to kill a boy named Rock Lee in cold blood.

Neko-Chan didn't question the outburst. He had nothing to attribute it to, but still didn't inquire to her.

"Breathe, breathe, 1, 2, 3.." she whispered, trying to calm herself with soothing normality.

"Now, Lee! Explode!" Gai yelled, one fist into the air, breaking the trance.

"Yes, sir!" Lee disappeared, much to Gaara's surprise.

The turned to the flash on his right, the sand flying up in automatic defense, only to be teased with an "Over here.." from another direction.

BAM! Lee struck from Gaara's blind spot, knuckles cracking against Gaara's cheekbone.

The sand nin was knocked from his feet, skittering feet away from the still-outstretched arm ravaging in pain from the strike. Gaara tumbled down, falling onto his back. The sand buzzed angrily around his body as he struggled to right himself.

"This is not good." a grim voice stated.

Rian turned to see a teenager clothed in black. A puppet was strapped to his back, and purple face paint crisscrossed his face.

"Yeah, it's bad! Your little sand mofo just got hit by my teammate!" Rian proclaimed triumphantly.

"No." the boy silenced her. "This is not good at all."

Lee lifted his head to look at Gaara. His head was bent down, his arms hanging limply in front of his body.

He grinned, and gathered the stamina for a kick. But, something stopped him.

A noise so quiet a drop of a pin could be heard over it.

The plittering of sand, dribbling down from Gaara. Lee's eyes widened. The sand was falling from Gaara's face in chunks now, cracking like pottery on the ground.

The boy lifted his face, and Lee startled. An animosically feral look splattered his face. Sharpened teeth shown through parted lips that chanted a mantra of a wordless prayer. The teal eyes were widened to an inhuman size, gazing straight through Lee's weakening body. Sand began bubbling around Gaara's feet, crawling up his body quickly.

Sakura shuddered. "What-what is he?"  
Rian turned to Kankuro. "What is that stuff?""

"Sand armor." Kankuro said plainly.

He continued. "Gaara draws a nearly invisible barrier of sand around him. It protects his body from harm, and covers him completely. It's his ultimate defense."

Rian shook her head. "So, Lee cracked the armor? And there's nothing he can do now?"

"No. The armor is actually riddled with weak points. It's not automatic, like the shield, so it requires a massive amount of chakra. And since it is against his skin, he has to exert more physical energy to move."

He looked at Rian, was a good foot and a half shorter than himself. "If Gaara's using the sand armor, it means his mind is entirely on defense. Your teammate's backed him into the corner."

Rian glanced back at the match, and looked back at Kankuro.

She whirled back, double taking at the look on Gaara's face.

Her stomach clenched, and bile rose in the back of her throat. Her throat constricted as her eyes froze on his figure, listening to his barely audible chant.

Gaara was slowly shape-shifting. Not massively, just enough, just enough. Rian could feel the foreign charka surrounding the boy's body, his mind slowly turning over to the monster's control.

"Oh my God." Kankuro said, his hand tightening it's grip around the railing.

Rian could hear her heart pounding in her ears.

"What. What is that-"

Gaara has been overtaken by the Shukaku.

Her face was overtaken by shock. "Overtaken." She stressed the word.

The Ichibi is in control now.

The next words she heard would mark a dividing point in Rian's life.

"-And if Gaara can catch Lee.." Kankuro said, his knuckles white.

"Lee will be toyed with, and then killed!"

Rian groped for the railing, something. Something to steady the chaos as her mind rushed through a million words and thoughts.

Ichibi control, catch, killed, toyed with, Lee? God no, God no, she chanted. Her knees bent and she nearly lost her balance.

Images of blood, death, loss, grief, feelings, feelings, god. She was not to feel, she was not to feel, she repeated. She was not to be worried, not be afraid.

Courage, courage.. Be brave. He told her, he told her, strong. Be strong. Be brave.

She calmed herself, and stood straight. The worry punched her so hard she nearly bent over, but she kept a straight face, as hard as it was. Lee would not die. He wouldn't.

Lee's mind was spinning as well.

"Such a defense cannot be defeated with my speed alone." he said to himself.

".. I'll have to use my last ace in my sleeve!"

He looked up at Gai. Gai nodded slightly at him, and Lee nodded back. Permission.

But something caught his eye, and he looked back again. Rian's faced was pulled into a worried stare. Her green eyes implored him, begging. Like puppy dog eyes.

He smiled at her, hoping to ease what worry she felt. "_You just wait, Rian-Chan. I'll show you- I'll show all of you! Just how strong I am."_

Rian startled at Lee's grin. Did he really not know how dangerous Gaara was? She pressed herself against the railing, subconsciously wanting to stop him from going any further. Toyed with, and killed?

She wouldn't stand for it. If she could just reach out, warn him, talk to him- Would he listen, though?

"Rian, watch it! You're going to fall over that railing!" Gai warned. She jumped back up, and stood straight.

Lee began undoing his bandages, flapping white down to his knees.

Rian startled. Her thought processes whirled as she acknowledged his preparations for his next attack.

He's going to use the Lotus. He's crazy.

".. Ura Renge…" she said, cocking her head.

"The Lotus will smash him at a high speed. That thin sand barrier won't be able to keep up." Gai said, sounding confident in the move.

Lee rushed forward, running a wide circle around Gaara, who had recrossed his arms.

"Hurry up and do your worst." Gaara said coldly.

His head instantly cracked at an impossible angle, pain shooting up his chin.

"As you wish!" Lee called, pushing himself up off the ground as Gaara attempted to block.

"And that's not all!". Lee started kicking at Gaara's arm defense. The sand armor weighed down Gaara's legs, making it too late to kick outward.

Rian followed them up to the ceiling with her eyes.

Lee kicked at Gaara's bruising arms, propelling them both upwards, Lee hanging upside down, somehow defying gravity and the laws of apparent physics. But there wasn't time to argue with science.

A shooting pain roared through Lee's head, and he paused, clutching his skull, knitting his fingers through the black hair that was usually stuck to his head in a bowl shape.

A moan escaped his lips, more of a muffled 'ouch'.

Gai shook his head and folded his hands. "The Lotus takes a lot out on a body. That many consecutive kicks may be too many even for Lee! Give it your best shot, kid!"

But Lee recovered almost immediately, just as their downward arc can begun, balancing a stunned Gaara and a racked with pain Rock Lee tens of feet in the air.

Lee flung his arm at the right angle. White gauze flapped up, snapped, and ensnared Gaara. The bandages wound his arms tight to his body, and his legs to a point where kicking back was impossible.

They started to fall downwards. Lee locked his arms around Gaara's waist, and threw his body as far left as he could.

"Take this! **PRIMARY LOTUS!**"

The slam into the ground was deafening. The concrete cracked like spider webs in wild arcs around the impact site. Smoke exploded from the detonation . A vaguely Rock-Lee shaped nin flipped backwards, landing on his feet, crouching to the ground as he waited for the smoke to clear.

Lee tried to suck soothing breaths of air into his burning lungs, trying to calm the pain.

Finally, the drifting tendrils subsided. Rian's heart had taken temporary refuge in her throat as she waited for a glimpse of Lee and his surely destroyed enemy.

The sight that met everyone's eyes was heart-wrenching and gut-twisting at the same time.

Gaara's body, destroyed, lay shattered on the ground.

"He-he won!" Rian exclaimed. Gai smiled. Sakura cheered loudly for him.

"Not yet." Kankuro said, a slice through the barely begun celebrations.

Gaara began to implode.

His face fell inward, his arms collapsed on themselves. Slowly, slowly, Gaara was becoming just a pile of sand.

Lee started shivering. What was this boy? His body was spent from the Lotus move, but his mind was beginning to hurt more then his limbs that cried to be amputated.

How long was this sand monster going to keep up this game of mental tag with him?

Monster.

"It's nothing but a sand shell!" Sakura cried, panic rising in her voice.

"When did he slip out of that shield?" Gai asked exasperated to no one in particular.

"It happened in just a second." Kakashi said. "Lee paused in pain, and Gai, you closed your eyes, and that's when-"

A roar of sand drowned out the Copy nin's voice. The deafening crashing was only punctuated by a manic laugh. He turned around, his last breath caught in his throat.

Lee was instantly struck by a wall of solid sand. He flew backwards, crashing hard against the wall. His body slid down, as though it were not controlled by his brain at all.

The sand crashed towards him in another massive wave, and he feebly drew his hands to his face.

"It's fully awake!" Kankuro cried.

Rian was glad there was a railing keeping her upright.

* * *

From the throes of her mind, Neko-Chan stretched self-contentedly.

"Neko-Chan!"

He sighed. Fall asleep for a few minutes and everything goes wacko.

What, Chan?

"That demon is fully awake!" Rian cried. Her voice was sharp with panic.

Really? Cool. I haven' seen a real guy get torn up by a Biju since-

"What?" Rian was incredulous.

Yeah. It was awesome. See, Kyuubi decided to attack the village of-

"That isn't the point! What's going to happen to Lee?"

Neko-Chan began washing his front paw with his tongue.

You ask me as though I know.

Lee took another devastating blow from the sand. Every block was being plowed through as though they were made of origami.

His body slammed hard against the wall, earning a cry from Lee. Blood dripped out the corner of his mouth, crimson against his paling skin.

The sand slammed forward, and Lee weakly blocked again. It hit his body with a deafening crash, channeling a large gape in the wall around him.

The gravely mixture of chakra and blood cleared to reveal Lee, panting and still holding out his arms in a block position. Gaara clenched his fists and prepared another wave of sand for an attack.

"Lee, no! Give up before he kills you!" Sakura yelled at him.

She wanted to slap the bitch, but at the same time, she wanted him to hold up a hand, forfeit, and be alright.

Security. She needed to know he would be alright. One part of her told her Lee was invincible and couldn't die. He had more skill then Neji. Neji was simply lucky, with the Byakugan. Lee wasn't special, but he was strong. So much stronger then Neji. Then Gaara. In, in everything.

Lee, deserved to live. It had been implanted in her that no one is innocent or deserving grace. But Lee, Lee broke a lot of those rules. Rules the teachers taught her, rules Neko-Chan made, rules she made for herself. He broke the rules about feelings, getting back up when you fall, and the love thing.

"Lee!" she yelled. "There'll be other Chuunin exams! Forfeit while you still can!"

Lee's head bounced back up like a bobble head.

"Never! I will never give up!" he yelled out loud, not realizing what he was doing.

_"You just wait_," he thought. "_Rian, I'll show you. I'll show Gai-sensei, and Sakura-Chan, and Neji-Rival, and-and everyone! I'm not weak!"_

Lee shot back up, his Lotus-induced speed returning. He gave a loud yell, and his fist slammed past Gaara's defense once more. Unleashing blow after blow on the body, his fists connecting with the solid of Gaara. Anger and panic fueled him, adrenaline coursing through him, empowering him even past his normal limits. This continued until Gaara recovered enough to literally mop the floor with Lee's body.

"He got his speed back! And he's smiling!" Sakura said, sounding amazed.

"He's getting pushed around so much. How can he be smiling?"

Gai smiled. "-He's about to start that pushing back."

Sakura, Kakashi, and Rian both looked at the Green Beast.

"The lotus of Konoha blooms twice, after all."

Kakashi's visible eye popped open.

"Gai, please tell me you-"

"On the contrary. I did." he answered.

Kakashi covered half his face with his hand. "My God. Gai, it's none of my business what that boy means to you-"

"Lee. His name is Lee. Rock Lee." Rian interjected. Kakashi's detached title for him sounded so dehumanizing.

"Right. But, even so, you've taught him something that's horribly dangerous!" Kakashi continued.

"You disappoint me, Gai. Nursing your illusions of youthful grandeur at the expense of a child."  
When Gai turned from the fight, there was a terrifying illumination in his eyes, one the likes of which Rian had never seen. His glare emanated directly toward Kakashi, who was glaring at him.

"You don't know the first thing about him!" Gai accused. He turned back to Lee, who was standing again in attack stance.

"Lee has something he loves so much he would die for it. I had to teach him to uphold what he loves and believes in." Gai's voice was heavy with guilt, as he secretly mourned unleashing the information to his prized pupil.

"Bull! The Reverse Lotus tops the list of things not to teach!" Kakashi scolded, seemingly unmoved by Gai's miniature speech.

"Reverse Lotus?" Neji questioned.

The Sharingan user calmed a bit, and shifted back to a casual slump. "So, which of the Inner Gates is he able to open?"

"Five." Gai shot, waiting for verbal whiplash from Kakashi

Kakashi startled, and looked back at the problem child in question. "So this boy- really is a genius?"

"Of course."

"What's all this rattle shit about Inner Gates?" Rian asked sharply. Gai gave her a look, telling her to watch her language.

Kakashi smoothly tilted the headband evenly across his forehead, ignoring the curse. His Sharingan eye peeked out, tomes beginning to spin as it mapped the scene in front of him to his brain.

"Yes. The Inner Gates are the nodes in a person's body where chakra converges. These intersections control the amount of chakra a person is able to use."

Rian nodded, processing the information into her numbing brain.

Gai continued, as if to best his rival at explaining the current situation at hand. "The jutsu I taught Lee allows a person open these gates, allowing free flow of all of the user's chakra, depending on the number of gates able to be opened."

"And Lee can open five? Cool. This match is in the bag!" Rian exclaimed, looking up at Gai smiling.

"Yes.. And No." Gai said sadly, face drooping.

Rian's face fell. There was always a catch to everything. She shouldn't have hoped for there to be a way for Lee to win this match.

"Opening the gates puts a massive strain on the body. The move is self-destroying. The higher number of gates, the more damage done."

A sense of foreboding began to sweep over her, with nausea roving in her stomach.

"D-D-damage?" she stuttered.

Kakashi nodded grimly, eyes still focused on the match.

Rian weighed the possibilities of Lee's apparent decision. She knew barely anything about medical ninjutsu. But, given Lee's condition, that much chakra could harm exponentially. Even a layman could understand that. The body had limiters on how much charka could be allowed for a reason.

Five gates.

"The state in which all eight gates is opened is "Eight Gates Triangalm Formation". This briefly grants the user power surpassing even Kage level, but in exchange, that person will inevitably die."

Eight.. Killed? Her knees began to knock. If eight killed, would five-

Rian whirled to face her teacher. "Gai-sensei! You've gotta stop him! He'll listen to you! Don't let him-"

Her voice broke, and she took a breath to calm the flotsam of chaos clogging her ability to speak.

"Don't let him.." she begged, unable to mouth the words.

"Too late." Kankuro breathed.

Lee's arms raised to cover his face as a ring of chakra carved a circle around where he stood.

The eyes of every spectator in the room turned to the young taijutsu prodigy, including Gaara, sand still humming with life in preparation for his next assault.

Blue chakra began buzzing around him in random flashes, zinging metallically. He could feel the wide, questioning eyes on him, the concerned faces of jounin instructors.

He didn't take that moment to promise himself he would take full responsibility for this action. He didn't tell himself whatever happened he would survive it. He didn't even remind himself this was his decision.

In a moment of closed eyes, as power warmed his numb limbs, Rock Lee didn't promise himself anything.

He promised everyone he knew he would never fail.

Sasuke, Neji.. And even you, Naruto-kun. I cannot be the only one who loses here.

The ring arched up into a cylinder shape around his body, the charka crackling and sparking with release.

.. Rian-San, you don't have to worry about me anymore.

Concrete floated upwards as the intensity of the power cut down into the floor, spouting upwards and filling the very air with electricity.

Gai-sensei, you of all people.. Please notice me now, as I finally attain-

"**THE THIRD GATE, SEIMON!** **RELEASE!**"

..My shinobi path!

Blue chakra exploded around his body, roaring with intensity, tendrils winding upwards in a backwards cascading towards the ceiling.

Force roared in his ears, sending his black hair standing straight up, headband clattering at his hips.

Concentration burning his temples, Lee braced his feet to the ground and bent his knees.

"AND WHILE I'M AT IT, _SHOMON! FOURTH GATE,_ _RELEASE!_" was roared above the chaos.

Power flew out in shockwaves of pent energy. The air rent with the current as Lee stood, struggling to stand as the chakra overpowered and consumed him. His skin was spreading with a rubicund rash mark, reddening until his exposed skin was nearly purple.

Rian was frozen to her spot.

"T-that's not.."

Lee let out a yell. The deafening roar filled the room, echoing off the walls as he shot towards the stunned Shukaku container. A path behind him appeared in the very floor, smoke curdling up to dissipate unnoticed into what air uncharged in the arena.

Everyone cried out, and shielded their faces from the flying debris. Neko-Chan had to yell at Rian, so engrossed was she in watching, even though she could not see. A piece of concrete struck her in the forehead before she had the time to block. She didn't even notice the warm blood dripping down her face.

"He opened the Seimon! He's going to make his move!" Kakashi tutorialized.

Gaara shot straight upwards into the air, back facing the ground. A flash of green and red appeared to his side so fast the mere human eye could barely capture the image. A smash sounded, and Gaara flew to the lower left, back into the screen of cumulating smoke.

"He's moving so fast I can't even see him." Rian said detachedly, finally speaking after a long silence.

She drew a hand to her face, then realizing it was trembling. She steadied it with the solid surface of her face.

Gaara hit the ground. Hard. His body bounced against the ground, and the flash that was Rock Lee appeared and kicked Gaara back into the smoke cloud. The ground shattered where Lee's feet tapped the ground for the instant, and he shot back up towards Gaara's body as it tumbled head over heels through the air. Lee appeared beside him, and a gate-infused slam sent him flying back up towards the ceiling.

This procedure could be viewed through the eyes of those not blessed with optical Kekkei Genkai only as a brown flash (Gaara), the sudden appearance of a green glint, and which time it would disappear, leaving one to wonder if it had really appeared at all, at which time Gaara would shoot off in another direction, and the process would be repeated.

"My god…" was all Sakura could think to say. A tense look appeared on Gai's face.

"It'll all be over soon."

Lee let out another roar, and kicked Gaara upwards. Sand crumbling from his body, he winced. The sand wasn't even attempting to catch up with him. This Rock Lee, he wasn't human.

The flash of a red face his nightmares would contain appeared above him again, flying straight at him from above.

"His muscles are snapping." Kakashi said, monotone. "Any more strain and he'll-"

Rian's hands tightened on the railing, her body shaking from pent screams. Lee was.. Terrifying.

"THIS IS THE END! _FIFTH GATE, SHOMON!_ _RELEASE!_"

Purple chakra began to arc off Lee's body as he drove himself straight downwards towards Gaara's falling form.

"Hey, Neji. I was going to save this one for defeating you." he thought, glancing at the wide-eyed Byakugan user, who's face read utter surprise and shock.

"But I guess you're going to get a sneak preview!"

The driving slam of Lee into Gaara sent said sand nin shooting downwards at a horrendously fast rate. The floor, a long fall in it's self, was about thirty feet down from where Gaara had been being batted around like a cat toy. He immediately began summoning his elemental strength to cushion the fall.

Suddenly, Gaara was yanked sharply back upwards. His mind was muddled as it was without a sudden change in direction. At this point, he was ready to just fall, dammit.

Lee's hand, bandages snapping like whiplashes against his hands from he force of the chakra flowing around him, held fast to the only thing of Gaara he could catch. It would have been a shame to lose Gaara just before he could complete the Reverse Lotus.

A moment silenced the arena, before Lee yelled, and yanked hard up on the belt binding Gaara to him.

He kicked his foot down, drew his free hand up. This was it- pulled Gaara up more-

**"REVERSE LOTUS!"** he yelled, as Gaara slammed hard into his nearly Kage-level chakra charged foot

A sonic boom of meeting energies sounded, before Gaara started a fast dive for the floor.

His back to the floor and his face upward, he grimaced, and prepared for the impact.

Lee hovered above him for the slightest instant, electric arrows of chakra shrouding his body to give hi the terrifying form of a shapeless monster in Gaara's eyes. He wrenched as current of pain shot through him, letting a low cry out, almost that of an wounded animal. Then, gravity took over, merciless in it's tug downwards. Both bodies disappeared into smoldering smoke clouds that filled the arena.

Everyone froze. Sakura's face was frozen in surprise. Gai's wide eyes scanned the vast expanse of smoke, searching for the body of his student.

Rian was the first to spot him, as he rolled out of the fog until he came to a stop on his back.

He wrenched his closed eyes open, blackening patches blurring his vision. The temporary relief of closing his eyes as he fell had been so welcome. He just wanted to close his eyes again, and not wake up. Just lie down on this ground and never wake again. Never wake to the pain that was washing over him like waves. He closed them, receiving the darkness with a small hindrance from somewhere in his mind.

Gai-sensei, Gai-sensei was counting on him, he remembered, wondering as blood dripped into his eye, staining his vision crimson who Gai-sensei was, but remembered, and brought his body up on one elbow. Neji, Neji was counting. One more elbow gritted against the ground. He nearly lost that form of balance as his vision tipped dangerously forward.

Rian. Rian didn't know Rian was- He got on a all fours, panting, cool sweat pouring over him like waves.

His limbs trembled. This was the most he could do. His nindo. He would fight for his shinobi way- That was life, life. His mind was being filled with primitive words that described his life. Ninja. Being a ninja. He was a Green Beast, He would get back up. Gaara. Gaara was- Sand. Oh god, sand. It hurt. Pain. Everywhere. Everything, everything hurt.

Rian had been so afraid when he hadn't moved. Her arms were shaking so badly she felt they'd never stop. She'd be caught in this moment of uncertainty forever. She was stepping off the ledge of the eighteenth story, an abyss of vagueness beneath her.

He moved. He was on one leg. One elbow. Two elbows. All fours. He was alive. Relief washed over her.

"No, he didn't!" Gai gasped, looking down at the mess of scattered sand propping Gaara against the ground.

"The gourd was made of sand! He used it to protect himself."

Rian could feel her throat burning. Gaara wasn't- Lee was helpless! If Gaara was still able to fight-

Gaara, it happened, was far from unharmed. He was laying spread-eagle on the ground, head turned to face the half-mobile Rock Lee. One hand stretched weakly to the other limp one, hesitantly shaking. They formed a pair of seals weakly, before one flopped uselessly at his side, limp and needing rest. The other stretched towards Lee.

Lee's head lifted, one eye half-closed with swelling. He was so weak- so tired.

"Lee! Get up!" someone yelled.

Yes, get away. Get away from the boy with the sand- his mind reminded him in simple terms he could understand.

Sand snaked up towards Lee from Gaara's rickety hand. Gaara's concentration was being poured into holding his arm steady. Moulding his chakra for the final move.

Lee turned away from Gaara, dry breath catching in his arid throat. He reached out a supporting hand to crawl away- he knew how to crawl. He'd crawled before he'd walked, his mind instructed through the fog coming over him. He reached out for support- his leg faltered. Lee stumbled, and fought to relocate himself. Get away, get away from him. He'll kill you.

More desert sand touched his skin, sliding up his arm, gripping his skin. The silt slid over his leg, gripping it. Lee winced, trying to breathe, and pulled with what power was in his body. The sand did not give way, only holding him upright and causing his burning joints to feel aflame with pain.

Gaara weakly reached his open hand out to the struggling Lee.

Blood pounded in Rian's ears as her sweat did a complete flash over over her entire body.

Subuku Kyuu. Gaara closed his hand into a fist with all the strength in his body.

Lee's heart-wrenching cry echoed through Rian's ears, reverberating through her skull, resonating, wrenching her gut, her heart seizing. The world froze in that moment, the look of utter pain on Lee's face, as his black eyes slid shut after giving her a desperate, blank look.

Her knees somehow managed to hold her body up, even when she wanted more then anything to collapse, and never look at his face again. Just, just, just never see the light of day, that kind of pain again.

Lee lay still and quiet as the sand slid from his limbs back to it's master. Gaara gathered the sand back to him, and muscled up to a sitting position. His hand raised again, and a wave of sand rose behind him.

His teal eyes narrowed. This blow would kill the annoying green nin.

The sand cracked like a whip, and shot towards Lee in an eerily hand shaped arc.

Rian didn't even know Gai jumped too. They both shot forward, off the railing, over the edge of the platform as though they were one person. Both bodies flew towards an identical goal, symbiotically one shape, separating only at the last second.

The sand made a satisfying noise on impact, and a familiar smile graced Gaara's features.

It soon melted away, replaced with a surprised frown.

The sand deflected to reveal Gai, chuunin jacket flapping, eyes cut from the coldest stone a jounin could manage, and behind him Rian, crouched over Lee's fallen body, arms raised in a block position.

Rian pushed her head up. She had been expecting the sand to hit her, but looking up she saw a green knee blocking her view. Gai's outstretched hand had diverted the course of the silt hand.

Gaara clutched his head, and muttered a question to Gai.

Rian, breathing hard, leaned back onto her knees over the body of her teammate. His hand was trembling with some sort of pain spasm. Rian numbly took it, if only to still it.

His body was destroyed. Bloody skin showed through rips in the green fabric. A bone was jutting from the skin of the leg in front of her, split upwards and nearly poking out of the flesh. His face was smudged with blood, cuts caked with dirt, bowl cut tossled beyond normal recognition. His severed ear was bleeding onto his black hair. Rian brushed the wet hair from it, exposing the blood to light, turning it bright red.

One eye was already turning purple from a blow, and he was covered in sand, sand in the creases of his torn suit, sand between his fingers, where his face folded, his head.

Gaara stood and began walking away, gourd reforming itself to his back.

"Gaara is the winner." Hayate proclaimed, though nobody was really listening.

An audible gasp waved through the crowd, and Gai turned to see where all eyes pointed.

His black eyes shot open at the sight before him.

Trembling, dripping blood from his left side, sand falling off him, one arm feebly raised to his normal attack stance, was Lee. His knee shook violently. Rian's was still clutching his other hand in amazement.

Gai seized his shoulders gently, murmuring to him in a soothing voice he shouldn't be standing. He shifted a foot, and Lee's limp head rolled up to stare blankly at him through glazed eyes.

He was still unconscious.

Gai's eyes brimmed with tears. "Lee.. You, incredible kid."

Lee's blank eyes remained focused and unfocused at Gai blankly.

"Even after you've lost consciousness, you're still defending your nindo." he whispered to him, tears coursing down his cheeks.

"You are, Lee, already.. A splendid ninja!"

Gai hugged the limp boy gently to his chest, cradling the black head of hair with his hand like a baby's.

Rian had never felt more out of place. Her other hand seemed to large for her lap, too awkward for behind her back. Lee's fingers were still knitted around the other one, so she simply sat there, staring at a boy who was supposed to be laying there looking dead.

Unconscious people weren't supposed to stand up threaten an attack.

Lee broke a lot of rules.

Gai crouched down on one knee, laying Lee flat on the ground as straight and gently as possible. Lee's fingers stilled were entwined with Rian's. The feeling was so queer it hurt, but she held onto him, as though if she let go he would surely die.

Lee. Wouldn't. Die. She brainwashed herself against the truth that glared at her with a burning glower.

His chest still rose and fell feebly. Proof of what she so desperately needed to know.

Rian was numb with shock. Lee had never been so still. She was so frightened. She hadn't been so scared in- she'd never been this scared.

Her fingers tightened around his hand, pleading him not to leave.

"Emergency team, hurry!" Hayate called as the medics rushed over, bearing a stretcher.

They immediately had him on the gurney, still and straight, muttering quietly to each other not to jar the stretcher, to hold still. He was hurt badly, after all.

Rian was still looking down at him with shock in her blank eyes.

She wanted to believe this was a joke. Lee would jump back up suddenly, laughing and saying it was all a clever ploy. He would kick Gaara across the face, be proclaimed the winner. Lee would win the finals. He'd strut around in his new Chuunin vest, and they'd all smile at him, even Neji, because they were proud, so proud of him. He would prove himself to be an excellent ninja, maybe even become Hokage. And everyone would live happily ever after.

Or this.

Her fingers flopped limply on her hand as they pulled him away, his hand still hanging as though it were dead over the wooden edge of the stretcher.

Rian felt awkward, standing there. Small, like the world could step on her. Too large, in the way, a failure for not stepping in in time. Not warning him of what she knew about the Sand nin returning to his team.

She had never felt so alone as in that one moment, standing in the middle of the carnage and destruction, the blood stains and sand swirling at her feet.

So alone.

There was no Lee, no Gai-sensei, no Neko-Chan. She was all alone. With no one to comfort her as her heart flipped between brokenness and hopelessness.

Gai put a hand on her shoulder, and she must have walked over and joined what remained of her team. Her heart was so heavy it felt like a real weight.

Neji's smug eyes looked her up and down as she climbed the stairs heavily, her arms limp at her sides, her eyes dead.

He harrumphed, and crossed his arms over his chest.

"I can't believe you disgraced us all by going down there after your own teamma-"

Neji didn't even realize Rian had punched him until pain exploded up his cheek and he was flipping backwards over the railing, falling down onto the bloody sand of the arena.

Rian clenched the fist at her side, and punished herself.

Because she had felt.

**A/N: Long chapter! Please review, and keep all extremities inside the car until the fanfiction has come to a complete stop.**


	10. Keeping It In

**Author's Note: Sorry it took me so long to update. We had company. They locked us out of our bathroom with all four cats inside. My mom had to break the door down with a hammer. Little brats. I really, really hate the youngest ones. They're such pains in the arses! Gaaaah! ****And then our neighbor got pissed off at us, and so now we're living next to a hag who spends the day smoking and throwing us thunderous glances.**

**The up side? I got Naruto: Clash on Ninja. But getting it was hell. Trust me, nobody wants to hear what I had to go through to get this game. You'd think SOMEONE in North Carolina would have a copy.. -frowns thinking of ignorant clerks- Playing that between updates and drawing Tenten for a friend who's in waff with her. -little hearts- Sigh. Young love.**

**WARNING! There shall be minor fluff in this chapter! Minor. Trust me, there'll be more in the later chapters.**

**This chapter dedicated to EnduranceInTribulation. Just because she's a great reviewer. -thumbs up-**

**(Every good reviewer will get a chapter dedicated to them eventually, I hope.)**

Rian grimly joined the line of applicants for the third portion of the Chuunin exam. The Hokage's "heartfelt" speech went in one ear and out the other as she stood dumbly next to Kankuro and Naruto.Her mind was floundering, flotsam of emotions she was trying to stave off clinging to her. Everything was a blur, messily bled together like a watercolor painting.

Her thoughts were spinning, and she couldn't think clearly enough to comprehend what Sandaime was saying. She wiped her sweaty palms on her pant legs, still staring blankly ahead.

"Take a number, stupid." Anko said, shoving the box at Rian. Rian snapped straight and obeyed. Unfolding the small numeral card, she resumed her introspective catatonia. She must have read the number aloud, because Morino Ibiki revealed the pairings for the next exam.

Rian was the throw over substitute. She'd face Nara Shikamaru or Dosu Kinutu, and depending on that was which one of them was to face Sasuke or Gaara.

She supremely hoped not Gaara. Her eyes slid over to where the sand demon was standing.

He was standing still, the slightest hint of pride in his stance. He didn't look at anyone, just held his card in a clasped hand. Rian couldn't believe how emotionless he appeared.

See him? We're going to make you just like him.

Rian's eyes shot wide.

Cold, bitter, heartless. That's exactly what I'm going to make you.

The thought terrified her. Gaara's eyes, from that one glance he gave her before that battle began, haunted her. Of course she would listen to Neko-Chan. Of course she would follow his orders to the hilt.

She wouldn't mind killing. She wouldn't mind taking a masochistic pleasure in it. But, it was just the shock of _Gaara_ as an example of what she was to become.She wished he could have put it in different words.

You'll be a ninja of the best kind. Emotions only weigh you down. With my skill, I can teach you to shine.

Neko-Chan's gloating tone painted her with praise she didn't deserve.

She sighed, and turned her thoughts back to the subject corroding at her core.

Why exactly had she jumped in like that? Her body had moved of it's own accord. The real her wouldn't leap in, risking herself to save someone else. What was wrong with her? It used to be one for all, and she didn't give a damn about the things that plagued her now almost constantly.

And her thoughts lately were being centered around a certain Rock Lee.

Why was he so important? He wasn't anything special. Well, actually he was. And in spite of herself, she really wanted nothing more right now then to hear he was alright. Not Chuunin rank, not Neko-Chan's praise, or his visions of what she was to become. Just two words.

The overwhelming emptiness that had surrounded her as she stood there, completely alone, if only for a second, had been ebbing at her.

She never wanted to feel alone like that again.

Her brown bangs poked sharply at her eyelids. She hadn't felt emptiness like that in years. Since before-

"Hey, Rian!" Naruto was leaning over and whispering harshly. "How's Bushy Brows?"

Rian smiled briefly. "I don't know."

"Man. That raccoon eyed bastard really wiped the floor with him, didn't he?" His hissing voice held no trace of sympathy, more amazement, and a small fraction of unbelief.

Rian nodded hesitantly.

"And, you are all free to go." The Hokage hooked the end of his pipe back between his front teeth.

Genin scattered in different directions, and Rian followed, not sure where to go.

The infirmary.

Gai-sensei was already there. Neji- Neji had disappeared. He obviously would not disgrace his fine name by appearing in a hospital, she was sure.

Rian decided she was more worried for Lee than angry at Neji's pride. She pushed open the door and walked into the blinding sunshine of the outside world.

* * *

Gai had sat molded in the same position for what seemed like forever. 

His black hair fell over his face, shielding his expression from prying eyes. His hands were beginning to feel melded to his forehead as he started down at his feet that seemed planted to the dirty linoleum floor.

How long had been sitting here? He didn't know, much less care, even if it was important.

Various personal bustled outside the door. This hospital room in the ICU wing seemed as far as the other side of the world from his quiet home, the community tempo faster then the beat of a usual day.

His elbows resting on his knees, he sighed, and looked hopelessly over at the still form beside him.

He mussed Lee's hair with one hand, smiling pensively. He wished Lee would look up at him, give him a smile, a thumbs up. Anything to know his substitute son was alright.

As he sat back in his chair, a loud breath escaped his throat. His hands knitted together as he nursed an illusion of normality by sitting straight up.

Turning over in his mind like a rotisserie were the words of the medic nin that had asked to speak to him after Lee's fight.

Lee not able to be a shinobi was being handled like most of Gai's problems. He was trying to think of a clever way to evade the situation.

But he was being distracted by one thought: This was his fault.

If he hadn't taught Lee that jutsu, maybe he'd be running around now instead of laying in a hospital bed, heart meters palpating softly enough in such a pattern to induce insanity. But, he always countered with what he'd told Kakashi when the Copy Nin had asked that very question. Lee loved being a shinobi. He was strong in himself , and strong as a defender, a true ninja at heart.

But, now this.

A devastating injury. This boy, who trained until his arms broke, may never be able to perform another mission.

Gai had a problem accepting that.

Lee always came through before. When he was five, and he couldn't create a simple clone, he came through. He graduated, or at least in Gai's eyes he did.

Lee had the heart, and he had so much more then the talent. Gai's face fell, and he brushed a strand of bangs out of his student's large eyes.

He wanted more then anything for those bug eyes to pop open, staring at him. That that the small chest rising and falling with soft snorting breaths would go taut with laughter or shake with sobs.

Anything would be more welcome then the brick-wall silence that seemed to stuff this white room.

Gai resumed his position of thinking, continuing to mull over this subject.

Had Rian heard what the medic had said? She seemed to have been in shock. He hoped that she'd been spared the knowledge of her teammate's apparent fate. She was probably worried, but whether she heard or not was weighing on him. She had shown herself wildly protective of him in the past, and he had no telling how this would affect her.

Speaking of affect. What about Lee?

Gai immediately decided Lee was not to find out about the medic nin's grim editorial of his fate.

It would break him from the inside out. Becoming a shinobi was everything to Lee.

He would keep the secret as long as he felt necessary.

A scuffling down the hall averted his attention. He looked up to see a familiar shape standing in the doorway, green eyes wide.

"Hey." he said softly, beckoning her over. Rian stepped tentatively, eyes locked on Lee.

He was worse off then she thought. IVs poked in and out of his hands, tubes were stuck up his nose, and a heart machine was keeping a slow, annoying beat. His closed eyes were turned to face the wall, and his hands were locked at his sides, the bitter, challenging frown Lee was known for on his face.

Rian stood there, feeling awkward. Her hands were flipping and fussing behind her back. She felt so out of place, staring down at the remains of a great ninja.

"You can touch him, you know." he said softly, in a tone reserved for small children and animals.

"He's not going to break."

Rian sat down quickly across from Gai, refusing to look him in the eye. She still fussed with her hands, this time hiding them in her lap, looking down worriedly at them, sneaking a glance nervously at Lee every minute or so.

Gai covered his face with one hand. "You heard." Wonderful. One more person to worry.

Rian looked up at him, panic in her eyes. "Heard what?" she asked anxiously.

Gai gave her a look. So she didn't know. His hands resumed hanging over his knees.

"Nothing. It's nothing."

Rian wasn't dumb. She knew something was wrong. She leaned forward to catch any change in his body language that would herald news.

"So.. Is he OK?" The eerie feeling that Lee was staring at her through his eyelids made her shudder in her head.

Gai tried not to look at her. "He's got compound breakages in his left arm and leg. Internal damage, from being slammed with the sand. Concussion, and he's in a comatose state." the words that had brushed past his ears as they shoved Gai out of the emergency room so they could treat his charge.

Rian's heart seized. All that medical mumbo-jumbo sounded threatening. She tried to process the foreign information into sayings she could understand. Her mind was numbing.

"So why's he out?" she questioned, sure Gai had already said it.

"Concussion. He'll be out for a few days, most likely." he whispered, trying to stare impassively at the still form his thoughts had been on for the past hour.

Rian looked away. His game of eye tag was draining her. And now, if possible, her heart was heavier knowing exactly what was wrong.

"He'll… be okay though, right?" she asked, looking directly at her teacher, needing the reassurance so badly it hurt.

Gai looked at her green eyes, wide with hope and so ready to have her heart broken.

He directed his face away. It was hard to lie to a child's face.

"Yeah. He'll be alright."

Rian found Lee's hand and knitted the pliant, cold fingers with hers.

* * *

The next days became molded to a sickening routine. 

Rian would get up after attempting to sleep, brush what hair she had with her hands, and go out to the training field to work with Neji. She'd work for an hour or so at her basic skill, leave, and walk to the hospital, hoping Lee would be sitting up and looking at her when he walked through the door. He never was.

She'd sit and play Solitaire with herself, looking over at Lee occasionally. It was unnerving how he stayed in the same position day after day, the same look on his face.

Gai was distracted. On missions, he'd be yelled at to pay attention, and could barely keep his mind on the assassinations. He stopped going on Anbu missions, and tucked his white porcelain mask into a shoebox, for resurfacing when this ordeal was over. There was a sad coming of age with that.

Every day, he'd putter around town for as long as he could. Anything not to go into that hospital.

It wasn't that he didn't want to see Lee. On the contrary, he wanted to be there. But the mere sight of his fallen graduate made him want to die with shame. And Gai hated hospitals.

He hated that place. The stale, sterility of the white rooms, the way the walls closed in on him after too short a time. He'd fart around, training, walking the trails of Konoha until his calves ached.

Only then would he enter the automatic doors and walk inflexibly to the familiar room.

Sometimes he'd stay and bother the other jounin instructors to avoid having to see his two students.

He would round the corner, and be met by the same sight as he walked through the door.

Rian would look up at him from a card game, or a book, and give him an accusing stare. Or maybe that was his conscience.

He'd ease into his chair, always the same one. Rian would look over at Lee, and then return to her book or red queen. Gai would sigh, the musty air filling his lungs, and ask her how Neji was.

Neji never came to the hospital. The boy had a serious issue with his team. He trained alone, which he probably preferred above their old schedule.

She'd answer "Fine." on a good day, or "Still a stoic asshole." on a bad one. Gai liked the bad days. Then he could vary the routine and tell her to watch her language.

The sunny days were bad, and the rainy ones were good. The rain always put Rian in a good mood.

Gai stared at Lee until he could stand it no more, and ask Rian if she would deal. Rian would produce a the deck of cards, and they'd play for hours.

Go Fish, Old Maid, Slapjack, War, Poker, Blackjack. Anything and everything they could think of. And when they'd finished the last hand, they'd go back and do it again. And redo it, and redo it, until it was dark out, and Gai decided he needed to go home.

He never saw Rian get to the hospital, and he never saw her leave. Her eyes would slide over him as he walked out of the room and home.

She'd wait until Gai was out of earshot, until his footsteps echoed down the hall and stopped, and then sigh as the front doors swished closed.

She'd sigh smally, and look over at Lee, who was still lying the same way. On a good day, she'd gently brush the sweaty bangs out of his face, and on a really, really good one, she'd lay her hand on his pale cheek for a minute, before blushing and dealing another round of Solitaire out to play.

She'd wait until the nurse knocked on the door, and told her visiting hours were over, and she had to leave.

She'd tuck one corner of her mouth in, stand up, and bade Lee farewell, even though he never responded.

She'd trudge home silent, and walk inside her unlocked house. A cup of instant ramen, and she'd collapse on her mattress. She'd bury herself in the blue blanket, and fall into a light sleep. She woke up a lot, but she'd always sing herself a tune to lull her back to sleep, or sharply scold herself back to La-La land.

She'd force herself to stay in bed until 6 a.m., until she would get back up, and the whole process would repeat itself again and again in a pattern of what seemed took up the rest of forever, even if it was only three days.

Neko-Chan was rarely spoken to. During training there was the briefest exchanges of words, and then he seemed to melt from her judgment the instant she stepped into that hospital. He just slept, seething with resentment. Rian seemed to be ignoring him. And why? For that stupid Lee kid.

He fumed with hatred and jealousy, but kept quiet. Rian and he had to be one for his plan to work. And it would. It had worked a million times before, so he never spoke a word unless she started the conversation.

So he planned.

* * *

The shruiken thudded lightly to their marks after slicing the morning air in a path to their mark. They imbedded themselves in the inner circle of the washed paint target, wooden surface marred by countless practice sessions. 

Rian wiped the lukewarm sweat from her brow and cracked her back, grimacing at the noise.

"Ouch. Gawd." she muttered indiscriminately.

Seven out of ten? That's very good. At least for you.

"I got a long way to go before I'm up their old teammate's standards." she spat, walking the length of the field and yanking the weapons out of the wood.

_Ha. Was she a Sanken proficient? Could she swallow FIVE cups of ramen in three minutes?  
_

"It was a contest, and I threw it all back up, remember?"

Yeah. Right on Ayame.

She snorted, walking the dirt pathway that led back to the heart of the village.

Woah! Hey! You ain't done yet, Chan.

Rian paused. "What are you talking about, Nene? I did everything you outlined. I'm tired, and I have to get to the hospita-"

Bull. You can't stop living just because your teammate got hurt. You've been spending too much time in that damned hospital, anyway. Your skills are declining.

The cat scowled. It was about time he'd spoken up about her "obsession".

Rian sighed. She knew he was right. She hadn't been exactly up to par with her old skill level lately. What she had been updated with was sitting in a stiff old chair beside an unconscious boy.

"OK, pussy cat. What've you got planned?"

Neko-Chan smiled like the Cheshire cat.

Alright. This is a little something I cooked up when you were blatantly ignoring me.

"OK!" Rian suddenly remembered the joy of being praised by Neko-Chan.

Right. Make two dopplegangers.

Rian's hands flew nervously through the seals, and soon enough two more of her poofed into existence.

Now, instruct them to attack. you.

Rian blinked in surprise, staring at the caricatures of herself, who were drawing their kunai.

"What? Neko-Chan! That's like, two of me versus one of me! That's not fair!"

No. THIS isn't fair. Take off your headband.

Rian looked miffed, but undid the dark blue cloth from her forehead. The metal headpiece shone in the light as she weighed it carefully in her hand.

"Reverse psychology?"

No again. Tie it around your eyes.

"What? You must be crazy. Two me's, and I won't be able to see? Uh-uh. Impossible." Rian crossed her arms defiantly, her lower lip stuck out in a dramatic pout.

Heh. I knew you'd put up a protest. You're so cute when you do that…

Rian's response was a reluctant sigh as she laced her fingers through the blue material. After a moment, she tied the band around her eyes, successfully blinding her vision to dark blue.

Excellent. Now, fight.

The dopplegangers exploded off into the bushes, leaving Rian turning in circles to sense their presence.

"Neko-Chan! I can't see anything!"

Of course you can't. With your eyes. Now, see with everything else.

A rustle in the bushes alerted Rian. She locked her concentration to the noise, tunneling her senses to it.

See everything.

Rian scowled, and clenched her eyes shut, training every sense she had to the disturbance.

See everything.

The dopplegangers brandished their melee kunai, smirking identically fanged smiles. They readied themselves to bound out at the blinded kunoichi.

"See everything."

Both dopplegangers exploded from the bushes, double edged kunai aimed directly at Rian's back.

Rian whirled around at seemingly the last instant, snatching two handled knives from the pouch at her belt. Plying the weapons, she anticipated the noises their users created, and successfully blocked their attacks. She kicked the first doppleganger she could sense, and spun on her hands around for another sweeping kick to the face of the second shadow clone.

She missed, sweeping the bunshin's face. It smiled toothily, and grabbed Rian's foot as it flew past. It swung backwards, dragging Rian with it. It spun slightly, before launching her head-over-heels into one of the large wooden poles driven into the ground, this one showing the remnants of Lee's excessive training in fist-marks and a driven-in center. Rian's head echoed as it smashed the log, the noise reverberating inside her cranium.

"Ugh." Rian cradled her head in her hand as the world shook and she scrambled back to her knees. The bushes rustled again as the clones approached once more.

"Damn! That one had chakra in it's foot!" she declared to the cat, before gasping.

"Neko-Chan! That bunshin had chakra in it's foot. Clones can't have chakra.."

Wrong. They can't have the user's chakra. That's MY chakra.

"Yours?" Rian jumped to avoid a slamming kick, making the clone kick directly into the dirt.

She skidded across the ground on her feet, one hand out to balance herself. She spun out of the way as a kunai stabbed the ground where her hand had been. She spun around and slammed the clone with her knee. It fell forward, and Rian bashed it from above with her foot.

The other clone stole up from behind. Rian kicked the other bunshin again, and it fizzed, before disappearing into smoke.

She smirked. Now where was the other-

Rian's neck was slammed with a sandal. She tipped to the side, upset by the blow. The clone burst forward, kicking Rian in the head. She grimaced, and the clone began laying blow after blow. Rian feebly tried to block. The speed at which this bunshin was moving at rivaled even her own.

She let out a cry as stabbing pains shot into her shoulders. Kunai knives flew past her head, pinning her by her shirt to the ground.

There wasn't even time to try and escape, begin pulling herself from her bondages. The clone jumped up, flipped forward, and slammed Rian in the torso as she landed on the ground.

Blood shot out of Rian's mouth. Her body bent of reflex, her hands forming claws as her body curled in on itself in the chartreuse grass. She hacked as crimson flooded her throat, pouring from God-knows where.

The bunshin shot back towards her, kunai in hand. Rian only had time to widen her eyes before the attack began.

Pain rippled up Rian's shoulder as the clone stabbed it, jamming the knife past vital arteries, tearing muscles and severing tendons. The shadow clone redistributed it's weight in the blink of an eye, balancing for another blow. Her other shoulder blew in red hot smarting as another knife imbedded itself through her skin. The clone swiped her abdomen again, imbedding it's foot in her side. She wretched, more blood dribbling down her chin as she jerked wildly to escape her bonds.

Her torso was being lined with the iron knives. The clone was lazily stabbing at her, plying for vital organs in which to dismember. Every stab sent her numbing body into another ripple of nauseating pain. The world waned as blackness threatened wrest over her in a fog stabbing at her. Blood splattered the clone's arms and face as it paused in it's assault, and it began to form hand seals.

The headband had slipped from Rian's eyes, gracing her with vision in one eye. Her jaw flopped brokenly as she forced her head up. She realized what the clone was doing as the second last seal formed.

Rian pulled her hand up with the last strength in the arm as it sparked with pain, pulled it past her pinned shoulder. Just a little more-

The bunshin's hands clasped in the last seal. It's chakra moulded in preparation for the jutsu, and it turned to it's opponent to give it a triumphant glare.

Now! Rian yanked the bloody knife from her flesh and slammed it directly into the familiar face of the clone. Blood spurted as the dagger impaled itself in the bunshin's face, directly between the eyes.

Rian forced herself up as the bunshin reeled from the counter hit, punching the clone into it's wounded face as it wrenched backwards. Swinging her lower body, she slammed what chakra she had left into the doppleganger in the side.

It gave a loud cry of pain, wincing with her whole body. Rian flipped onto her hands, aiming her trembling body carefully-

SLAM! Her knee hit the clone square over the top of the head. It screamed, before flopping forward limply onto the ground and exploding in a flash of smoke.

Rian pulled herself up onto her knees, panting heavily. Sweat dripped down her face, turning the rivulets of blood into diluted pink streams.

She sat on all fours, trembling uncontrollably. Her body was spasming and afire with pain, from her legs to the spots where the bruises were turning dark purple and yellow already.

She closed her eyes and tucked her face to her shoulder. Warmth coursed down her face. Flowing blood.

Red clung to her chin, setting it aflame with the sensation.

She sat like this for several minutes, until once again she noticed the cold eyes of a brown cat.

"N-N-Neko-Chan.." she begged, wiping the blood off her chin and looking desperately at the cat.

Get yourself up.

Her eyes widened at his tone. But, per his wish, she pushed herself back to her feet, testing her legs with her body weight a bit at a time. The imbedded knives began falling out of their niches in her skin. She finally got to her feet, only to find her wounds not as bad as they seemed. Her legs still responded and kept her standing solidly.

Let this be a lesson. Things are never as bad as they seem. Blood doesn't always mean a life-threatening wound. You're fine.

The trembling was gradually stopping. Rian gently pulled her collar down to review the stinging pains ravaging her shoulders and chest. Though there was blood covering down to her torso, they appeared to be skin-deep. But God, it still hurt.

"Neko-Chan." Even her voice was clearing. "Why did-"

This is pain tolerance training. If you're mortally wounded, you still have to keep the pain under wraps.

Rian ran her tongue across her lower lip.

We'll be working on this subject more. Along with that, You're going to learn how to defeat yourself. That's what the dopplegangers were for.

She smiled shakily. "Ah, I see."

You'd better bandage yourself up before you go to the hospital.

"Oh! Right!" Rian plopped to the ground and pulled some hastily wound gauze out of her weaponry pouch.

Neko-Chan smiled. Any normal genin would be screaming in pain. But his Rian wasn't making a noise. No, she was smiling. All because he told her to.

He shook his head as Rian bandaged up her wounds. It never ceased to amaze him how stupid humans were. Here he was, operating directly under their noses. A little kindness, and they would bend to his every whim and command. And for what? A simple thing they deemed 'trust'.

Didn't they know trust is fleeting, and that betrayal was always waiting to come crashing down on them? Didn't they think there was something suspicious about an "imaginary animal" that became real and symbiotic with the human who's mind it shared? Were they really that stupid?

True, he'd gotten Rian when she was young and gullible, hungry for attention and something called "love". That probably accounted for the seemingly endless obedience she had for the cat.

Her will was slowly being ironed out, and replaced with mindless subservience. Her emotions, what would keep her human, were being repressed, and better yet, she was doing it all by herself.

Neko-Chan hadn't felt emotions in years. But for some reason, Rian held a special place in what heart he had. He felt sympathy for her when she was sick, pity when she was hurt, and he worried for her occasionally. It was against his rules, but then, he broke a lot of rules himself, so this one didn't count.

He had high hopes for Rian. Such obedience, and the child had skill. Not one of her predecessors learned the ins and outs of Sanken so quickly. True, being small she wasn't his first choice for the symbiotic relationship, but what she didn't have in strength, she made up for in speed. She wasn't anything extraordinary. She just listened to him.

So, in turn, she was the smartest symbiote he'd ever had, and also the most stupid.

Smart for listening, idiotic for trusting. But of course, he had her now, and there wasn't any turning back at this point..

He wouldn't know how attached he was to her until the very end.

And then again, he promised himself he would forget her, like every other little girl he'd seduced into his cause. He would forget her name, who and what she was. She would be another face lost in for him, her blood would be cleft for his sake. And that would be the end of that.

And he refused to let a little guilt stop his life.

* * *

"And Shikamaru used Kagemane to stop him, but I almost punched his face off! We took care of him real good! Didn't we, Shikamaru?" Naruto finished. Shikamaru responded with a sigh and a tiny shrug. 

"Hai! Great job, young Naruto! Shikamaru!" Gai said, flashing them both a thumbs up.

The kitsune grinned from ear to ear, and Shikamaru muttered something about saving people being troublesome. The two departed the hospital room shortly afterwards, leaving Gai grinning toothily.

"They're great boys, aren't they?" he asked to no one in particular.

A small noise reached his ears, so faint the wondered if he'd even heard it at all. His grin disappeared, and he turned around.

Rian was staring down at her comrade, her face sullen and full of some emotion Gai didn't recognize.

Her arms hung limply at her sides, buried under the unrolled sleeves of an oversized sweater. Brown bangs shielded her olive-green eyes from anyone seeking her exact feelings in ocular mannerisms alone.

If Gai didn't know any better, he'd say that was her knees knocking together.

"Rian?" he asked, his tone soft. "Are you alright?"

Her eyes were locked to the bitter, frozen face, as though she could memorize every line that made it up.

Every scar, every scratch, every healing cut underneath a bandage. She could have never seen this again.

Even though Gaara had been successfully stopped in his attempt on his enemy's life, the cold chills of what might have been rang like church bells in the deepest parts of her mind.

What if Naruto and Shikamaru hadn't come by at that exact second? What if that sand mother fucker had actually gotten the instant to go through with his plan? What if, what if-

The what-ifs plagued her. What if he'd been Subuku-Kyuued to death? What if there were people scrubbing blood off the walls, his blood? and what if, what if- What would she have done? Would she have felt anything? Would she be- what if? What if he'd really died? Her lower lip trembled.

The inhumanely possible probability that Lee could die had been staring her in the face for days. It was glaring at her when the medics carted him off the blood-stained arena. It was watching her when her mind's eye tried to envision the remains of her teammate as she listened to the dry run of arguments about the third exam. She'd repressed it, and repressed it as long as she could. But now, now was-

Damn! Where was she when this happened?

A searing pain up her shoulder reminded her. Training. Bettering herself.

But was it really worth it? If she had been there would this have happened?

He had given her more protection and help, inspiration and life then she could account for. He'd encouraged her when she felt down, cheerfully giving when he had almost nothing. Didn't she owe him this? As a teammate, and a "friend", where was she when he needed someone to protect _him?_

If he had died, it would have been partially her fault. For not being there.

"Rian?" the girl's uncharacteristic silence was beginning to worry Gai. He crossed over and stood beside her. He waved a large hand in front of her face. "Rian?"  
She had a sudden desire to snatch Gai's hand from before her face, rip it off, put it in a blender, and make him drink it through a Sippy cup. Bloody murder shot through her eyes as she watched his fingers flap up and down before her face.

Before she knew what she'd done, a low growl emitted from her throat, rumbling up her esophagus and perforating the sterile air of the white room.

Gai blinked in surprise, and when he opened them again, Rian had her teeth clamped around his fingers. She was standing on her tip toes to reach the extended fingers, arm still at her sides. Her eyes were narrowed in disgust. They slid over to Gai's face. He thought he saw a triumphant glint in them.

"Rian, please let my hand go." he asked, feeling her little incisors begin digging into the skin between his knuckles.

Rian dropped his hand like a playful dog and returned to staring at her teammate as Gai shoved his entire hand into his mouth and began sucking on it to relieve the little smarting teeth marks. The steely look in her eyes was still there. Saliva dribbling out the corners of his mouth, he studied the intense look in her eyes. What was this child thinking?

What she was thinking was how stupid she was for worrying. Hadn't she specifically been told never to become attached in any way to another person? Hadn't he told her that?

She went over the masochistic run of scoldings, but the problem persisted, like a zit

She hated herself for caring, but why she was worried about him plagued her. Why did she only feel this way about Lee, and not Neji, or Naruto, or even Gai-sensei?

Why did her stomach hurt when she was sitting there and thought especially hard about him? Why did it turn a complete flip when she pictured his blindingly annoying smile?

Why did she feel that certain amount of comfort when she gripped his cold hand in hers? Why was that? It was an emotion, she was sure. But what one?  
"Did you swallow one of my knuckles?" Gai questioned jokingly, examining his spit-covered fingers.

Rian just kept staring at her teammate. Her heart felt strange, and not the one in her chest, either. The one in her head that she supposed was tied through chakra strings to the beating one in her rib cage.

It felt- warm. Fuzzy, slightly.

This was really starting to unnerve Gai. Wiping his hands on the back of his green suit, he knelt down on one knee beside his student. She was very small, he realized. The top of his head reached about her neck when he was on his knees. Funny, maybe it was grief making her look so tiny all of the sudden.

And then it hit him. She was repressing the grief and the feelings for some reason. He knew her as one to suppress her feelings. He reminded her of Neji in that area. Lee, Lee had really been the only one to coax a smile out of her occasionally. She was cute when she smiled. Made her look like a real kid.

… Lee.

"Rian, it's alright to be sad, you know." he coaxed, putting a hand on her shoulder, hoping this one wouldn't be bitten again.

The small shoulder trembled underneath his hand as Rian tucked her head into her hands. Gai winced, and prepared for an emotional outburst. Girls.

Rian's hands fell back to her side as suddenly as they had shot up.

"I hope he snaps out of this soon."

Gai opened one eye and stared at her through it. That was it? No tears? No heartbreaking sobs or emotional tsunamis? Just that, in a detached voice? Eyes still locked to her teammate.

And then he realized, she was doing it again. This child was not like his lovable prodigy. She didn't wear her feelings on her sleeve. Maybe she just needed time to open up. Trust. He'd get through to her somehow. After all, she was his youthful student. Gai felt his 'OMG-Gai-ness' returning.

"Yeah." he said, patting her gently on the now inert shoulder.

"Me too."

Gai hung on to his discarded stoic attitude for one more second, before it was masked again by his exuberant, chipper attitude.

* * *

Gai was being kicked in the head. 

Rousing himself up, he opened a blurry, sleep-crusted eye. White stared back at him.

Something, was kicking him. In the head.

Maito Gai did not like to be kicked. Especially not in the cranial area.

Staring down, his face buried in some type of course white cotton, Gai tried to remember where he was.

He sniffed, clearing his nose of built-up snot. Sterile Bentadine immediately assaulted his senses. Plastic, screams, clean cloth, floor cleaner- hospital.

Hospital, he reminded himself as his eyes closed again. He was in the, erm.. Hos-hos-hosit-

The thing kicked him in the head again, just as he was drifting back off to sleep.

He pulled his head up again, staring tiredly across the room. Damn.

He'd been losing a lot of sleep lately. Worrying. Worrying for Lee, worrying for Rian, worrying for Neji.

Worrying what was going to happen when Lee found out he couldn't be a shinobi any more.

He'd been cleverly trying to sidestep the problem for days, but every time, the tide turned against him and the cavernous abyss looked a little deeper and a little farther, and a little harder to cross.

He, Maito Gai, optimist Sublime Beast of Prey, had become resigned to the fact that his student, successor, substitute child, and all around inspiration, was going to have to give up his greatest dream.

A stab of leftover Gai-ness poked at the shell of bitterness around him, reminding him that not all was hopeless. He smiled as a tendril of Anger swatted the mini version of him away.

Resigned to being awake, Gai sat up and stretched his long arms over his head. His back severely protested the stiff chair he'd been sitting in.

He'd fallen asleep in the hospital chair, his head resting on- something. Gai felt a stab of sentimentality, and wondered where the Hallmark Channel Movie cameras were.

Gai was usually very weird until the first cup of coffee.

He cracked his knuckles against his palm and tilted his head downward as he became accustomed to the smells and sterile air of the hospital again, for another day. He silently wondered where Rian was-

Gai then opened his eyes, and realized what had been kicking him in the head.

Right underneath a Gai-shaped head print in the sterile white cotton of the hospital bed was a lump.

And under that lump was a knee. And that knee belonged to no more then Rock Lee, who was pushing himself up on forgotten muscles into a sitting position, one hand over his left eye.

It took Gai a second to realize what was happening. Lee put both hands behind him to balance his shaking body as he sat, looking dazedly at the white blanket.

"Lee!" he cried, sitting forward and pulling his student into a hug around the neck. He remembered mid-embrace his student was shattered from the inside-out, and he'd best go about hugging gently.

Too soon, he released the still-confused looking boy, who was now struggling to focus on his teacher's large-nosed face.

Oh god. What if he'd lost his memory or something? Gai had heard about cases like that. What if he didn't remember who he was, or Rian, or Neji, or-

"Gai-sensei?" he whispered raspily. He sounded like he'd been hit by a Mack truck.

Relief washed over Gai as a shaky smile spread over his face.

Lee shook his head, as if to clear it, and sat up a little straighter. He rubbed his eye with the sleeve of his over-sized shirt.

"Wha-what happened?"

Gai's smile began to vanish . Lee sounded so- so helpless. His voice reminded Gai of when he was still small.

"Don't you remember?" he asked, needing the reassurance.

Lee's confused look deepened, as he puckered his face like a monkey. He winced as the feeling hit the stitches across his face, inadvertently reaching his hand up to them.

"Gaara.. Sand." he coaxed, as though trying desperately to remember.

He turned to look at Gai, so slowly it frightened the elder Green Beast.

"How long have I been asleep?"

Gai recounted the days in his head quickly. "Five days."

Lee shook his head and moaned slightly.

"I feel like I got hit by a building."

Gai smiled, and even forced himself to laugh a little. He patted Lee's back gently, noting the boy's relaxed wince at the contact.

"Heh. Well, he beat you up pretty good." casually sidestepping around saying, _Oh yeah. And your arm and leg are so shattered you'll probably never recover. You'll probably spend the rest of your life tacking around on crutches, taking pain medication, and watching all the rookie genin surpass you. And it's all my fault._

Lee was completely unaware of Gai's emotional, mental outburst. He blinked lethargically and licked his dry lips. The IV stung in his hand as he pushed himself up further.

_Already pushing it,_ Gai thought to himself, shaking his head at Lee's first actions since being destroyed by that sand monster.

Lee scratched his head. Sand sprinkled down to the sheet. He didn't seem to notice, since the sounds were beginning to regulate themselves in his vibrating eardrums.

He looked at Gai now. His ashen face had a little more color, the elder noticed.

"Has anyone been here?" he asked. "What have I missed?"  
Gai smiled for the sole reason that it was better then bursting into tears.

"Well, eh, I've been here.. Every day." the false encouragement sounded fake even on his tongue.

"Did Sakura-Chan come at all?"

Ah. Sakura. Lee's pink haired little crush.

"No. I didn't see her. But you could ask Rian when she gets here."

"Rian?" Lee questioned, his right eye covered with his hand.

"Yeah. She's been here more then I have. She's probably on her way here right no-"

He was interrupted by the smallest sound in the doorway. A handful of shruiken clattered to the ground from an opened hand.

Rian's face blenched a shade of hoar. Her eyes widened as she simply stood there, staring at the two of them. Her still-outstretched hand, which had been holding the shruiken, began trembling.

Was she really seeing this? Or was it some sort of genjutsu cast by a cruel enemy?

"Ah, Rian." Gai interrupted, hoping to cut the silence.

Lee looked at her for a moment, trying to focus his still-fuzzy vision on her. He scratched his eye, hoping detachedly to clear the vision.

Suddenly, Rian shot across the room. She jumped at Lee, wrapping both arms around his back and burying her face in his neck. Lee tipped backwards at the sudden extra weight, but managed to keep himself upright.

Gai's face remained blank. Rian crushed Lee closer to her, as though she were afraid he was going to disappear or something.

That was the truth. She was so afraid this was all a dream, an illusion of torture. She was so scared she was going to wake up at home in a cold sweat, and trudge to the hospital only to see a still unconscious body, meters and I.V lines plunking and dripping and making all sorts of madness-inducing noises.

Lee looked down at Rian. Her arms were laced around his back, making the skin explode with pain, even at the slight contact. For a moment, he forgot who she was.

But only for a moment. He closed his eyes and breathed in, getting a noseful of brown hair that smelt of something he vaguely remembered. Paint, sterile hospital, sweat, grass, blood-

A smile unfurled itself across his face as it all added up in his mind. He lifted his arm, heavy with plaster casting up, and put it limply across her back to return the gesture.

"Rian-San.." he whispered, mentally booting the words back into his memory. He kept his eyes closed, savoring the warmth of the embrace on his cold body. It felt like he'd been dead, and slowly, slowly, this was bringing him back to life. He lightly rested his chin on the top of her head.

Some sort of emotion exploded inside Rian's heart. She decided to pay it no attention, gripping Lee tighter as proof. This was what mattered right then.

Gai's face finally turned into a smile. Rian reluctantly let her teammate go, and plopped back into her chair. She pulled her knees to her chest and rested her face on her arms, looking as though she owned that stiff, upholstered chair. She might as well have.

Lee scratched his forehead, smiling back at the two people he knew and loved as they proceeded to fill him in on what had happened since his knockout, trying to talk over each other.

This was what life was all about.

**A/N: Review, please. And don't be cruel. I had to write all this while having to go to the bathroom really bad since some _certain children -_glares thunderously_-_ locked our cats in the can.**


	11. Camisado

**Author's Note: GRAH! I had to go to Florida again for a week, while my mom went to some missions retreat or what not. **

**I wrote this before I left, so I had to wait to post this. Sorry for making you guys wait..**

**BUT! I got to see the Naruto Cosplayer Cousins. I mentioned them a few chapters ago, remember?**

**And, they are now both obsessed with Rock Lee. Benjamin was talking about him all week. He's such a sweet boy. He gave me a card with my lucky Pokemon on it, but first, he tried to give me his only Rock Lee trading card. Isn't he such a sweet lil' guy? He just loves Cousin Emily, for some reason. His mom says a week before we come, they'll both come up and ask her about three times a day when Emily and Auntie SuSu are coming. And when we get there, it's, "Emily! Come on! We gotta go on a ninja mission! Look, I've been training! Wanna see?" and, "Emily, can we play Oh Man's Pack? Look! I found a card!". They're just the sweetest kids, and they think of me like their best friend. So, we wrestled, played in the "Mummy Box", and they discovered the amazing fun potential in piggy-back rides. (Read: I need a chiropractor. Now.)**

**And, (tearjerker coming. Ready your buckets and Kleenex.)**

**After my mom and me left their house to drive back to North Carolina, he went into the room where we had stayed, and crawled up on the bed my mom had slept on, and just lied there, curled up in a ball on the Pooh sheet with a sad look on his face. After about five minutes, his mom came in and asked him what he was doing. **

**He sat up, looked at her, and said, "I'm just smelling Auntie SuSu."**

**And, as if that wasn't sweet enough to give you a cavity, he saw the blanket I'd used the night before (I slept on the floor right beside my mom's bed.), and wrapped himself all up in it, and pulled the pillow I slept on over his head. You couldn't even see him under all of the blankets.**

**But, here's the sad part.**

**He sat up all of the sudden, crammed his face into my pillow, looked up and yelled:**

**"IT STILL SMELLS LIKE EMILY'S HEAD!"**

**Yeah. I have a fanclub. They both got up at 8 a.m to say goodbye to me, and when they were watching our car pull out, Benjamin said, "Maybe if they love us, they'll get to the corner and turn around."**

**GUILT TRIP! I miss them so much... They both greeted me when we got there with the Good Guy pose. THEY PRACTICE THEIR GAI IMPRESSIONS EVERY DAY, THEY TOLD ME!**

**I cried half the way home... They just love me to death, for some strange reason. I'm going to start crying again..**

**There will be monstrous FLUFF in this chapter. As in "First Kiss-eh" fluff. Yes, a snuggly, fluffy, sugary sweet, kiss scene. And there will be more in the next chapter. The fluff bunnies have lain siege on this and the next chapter, leaving teenage lovey dovey-ness in their wake. Don't kill me, please...**

**Oh, yeah! Neko-Chan got it's first flame last week! Now it's official! We're a real fanfic now. I have to say thank you to everyone who reviewed, Story Alerted, and even stood up to the flamer. You guys are too great for words. You have my eternal gratitude and appreciation. I'd hug you all, but, that might frighten a few of you away. So, eh, just know I love you all! .. In a totally non-sick, review-crazy little freak way. Ah, you know. Thanks so much, everyone!-makesLee plushie kiss computer screen-**

**-ahem- This chapter dedicated to EnduranceInTribulation.Mostly because he's just a really sweet guy, who cheered me up about my kitten dying, and is pretty much one of the greatest reviewers I've ever had the pleasure of knowing reads my fics. And a part because I called him a _girl _in his first dedication. Sorry..**

In the following days, Lee's recovery left the physicians astounded at his bounds and leaps in the field of recuperation. His body was convalescing at a previously unheard of speed, quite literally healing itself.

All the medics could do was shake their heads and keep him full of medicine, which he was a little more than reluctant to take. Begrudgingly, Lee swallowed the massive pills four times a day, glugging down as much water as possible to wash away the awful wheat-germ taste, shaking his head and sticking his tongue out as he did.

Gai would laugh, and ruffle his student's hair once the awful regime of three or four pills and a spoonful or two of ghastly pain medication was finished, and Lee had returned to scowling at his knees through the blankets. His sensei would smile, and promise Lee he'd be out of this hospital before he knew it, for he was now full of Youth and Analgesics. A thumbs up always brought a positively buoyant grin to the pale face, and Lee would be up as soon as he could, tacking around the hospital halls on his crutches.

Somehow, his substitute son's smile seemed a little brighter, even in the face of an agonizing hospital stay that would try even a saint. Between the constant pain he knew was there but masked continually and the complete lack of ability to do anything besides walk the seemingly endless repetitive hallways, he wondered how Lee endured it all.

And Gai wondered about himself. He wondered how he kept waking up every day with the shame staring back at him in the mirror, and he wondered how he kept walking and fighting with the burden of guilt.

It was his fault.

And he almost gave in to the seduction and smiled along with him.

Lee was cleared to discharge to his own home after a week and two, three, four days after his injuries had occurred. Gai thanked God and prayed for leniency.

* * *

Lee tapped his fingers nervously on the flecked colors of the Formica countertop, counting detachedly every time his fingernails echoed across the empty bar. His eyes were locked to his knee, and he was trying sooo hard not to jump up on his bar stool and whoop right out loud to all the customers of the Ichiraku of his good fortune.

He, Rock Lee, of the mutated caterpillar eye brows, handsome, but slightly geekish Lotus of Konohagakure,

-Had a date.

With Haruno Sakura.

His eyes instantly became little hearts as he clasped his right hand girlishly, imagining his fair Sakura-Chan.

He was so excited! He just about thought his eyes were going to pop out when he asked her for the umpteenth time if he could be allowed to take her out to Ichiraku tonight, and she had finally, finally _accepted_. He'd promised himself that if she said yes, he would even alter his youthful appearance if she wished. So, he hobbled to the bridge she and her team crossed each and every day early that morning and waited. And waited. And waited, leaning against the chipped and flaking red paint. Naruto went hopping by excitedly after about an hour, followed a little while later by Uchiha Sasuke, who apparently still had some mussed feelings about his defeat before the Chuunin exams. Or he was just being Sasuke. It was very hard to tell.

It seemed he had waited and eternity, watching the fallen leaves ripple the glassy surface of the river before he heard the noises of two stomping pairs of feet.

Then, he sighed emphatically, his sweet Sakura-Chan had come strolling down the road, having an argument with Ino, who was running right alongside her.

He had mustered up every millimeter of courage he had, squared his chest, and put a pleasant smile on his face, just for her, trying desperately not to lean against his crutch, even if it meant going down on his youthful face. She came clopping up to the bridge, an angered frown marring her fine features, as Ino screamed from farther down the road, shaking her fist angrily before retreating, blonde pony tail swinging to the overplayed stomp of her feet.

This was it, Lee, he narrowed his eyes at the challenge, shifting in place to mask the excitement. Today was the day. She _would _say yes. He just knew it!

Sakura was approaching. Nine steps. Eight. Seven. He could practically hear "Eye of the Tiger" playing in his head.

Don't screw it up, don't screw it up, you big nut.

He'd squared his shoulders, built up a massive amount of Youthful Suaveness, looked her straight in the beautiful green eyes-

And melted.

"Sakura-Chan,Allowmetotakeyouonadatetonight?" he said, wincing at how dumb he sounded. Great.

There went that hope.

"Yes."

Oh, well. He'd tried. Maybe if he'd shaved his eye-eye-eye-eye-eye-bro-brows… What?

He peeked one eye open to look at his cherry blossom. The picture of dejection. Slumped over at the waist, wearing a stressed, very long frown on her pretty little face. She looked tired, and worn out.

"Did-did you say yes?" he asked stupidly, barely being able to spit out the question again as the realization set in. Sakura began walking towards her team's training area, still looking utterly rejected.

"Mm-hm." was her reply.

Lee blinked, wondering he was being fooled around with.

"7 at Ichiraku?" he'd called after her.

"Whatever." she'd said, not even waving over her shoulder at him.

Lee had stood completely still for two whole minutes, before he whooped loud enough to be heard all the way in Sunagakure, and doing his trademark Happy Lee Dance.

"Ow, ow, ow, ow."

And so, he'd spent the rest of the day preparing. He would make this worth it for her! Yosh!

He'd spent the day, after training, of course, at a book store, reading up on how to be a lady's man before the clerk had crabbed at him to buy a book or hit the road.

He'd dug through his closet and found a (rather wrinkled, but) clean, black checked shirt he'd worn to his grandmother's funeral, once. The sleeves were a little short, coming only about halfway to his wrists once he managed to get his arms (one in plaster casting) into the damn sleeves. He had to keep the top unbuttoned so his neck wasn't being pinched the hell out of, giving anybody a pretty good look down his shirt even if they weren't trying to. But that was alright, it was OK. It wasn't green. Sakura probably wouldn't mind as long as it wasn't green.

He'd brushed his teeth extra-hard, drowned himself in mouthwash (you never know..), and cleaned himself so that anywhere you ran a finger up him, he'd squeak like a new car.

At 6:45, he'd burst out his front door, absolutely on Cloud 9, dressed like a normal human being, and so happy he would skipped to the Ramen stand, were it not for his mending arm and leg.  
Never mind that he'd locked his keys in his house.

And so, here he'd sat for, he checked the clock on the wall. 7:36. A half an hour. Sakura was late.

He propped his head up on the counter. Maybe he should go see if she was at her house- No, that might make him seem pushy. He'd just let it be. People could be late, of course, he smiled, optimistically sitting up straighter. Lee's thoughts were spinning half a trillion miles a minute.

Ayame, the shop owner's pretty, young daughter smiled at him from behind the counter as she made her way past with another customer's order. Ayame knew Lee by his actual, real name. Not just "The polite little freak that comes with his look-alike sensei".

"Ohayo, Lee-kun." she said, stopping in front of him. Lee smiled happily, not even using his freakishly bright teeth. He was so proud of himself.

"Good evening, Ayame-Chan! I am waiting for my date to show up." he said, looking down the road once more to see if Sakura was coming. Ayame smiled back at him, closing her amethyst eyes.

"Well, good for you. I see Sakura's finally seen the light." She knew all-too well of the plights of the bowl-cut boy's love life. Or lack thereof. He'd poured out his heart once over a bowl of Miso ramen, while Ayame sat across the counter like a concerned therapist. Since then, she'd grown rather fond of young Lee, seeing his smiling face when he came with Gai or the rest of his team. He was so much politer then that obnoxious Naruto kid that dragged Iruka in every other night.

Lee nodded, looking anxiously down the road once more as Ayame returned to her various duties.

.. He didn't see Sakura anywhere.

That was alright! He would wait as long as it took!

…

…

Forty five minutes later, Lee was slumped over the counter, his face portraying utter heartbreak.

The majority of the other customers, (painfully) some of the rookie genin themselves with their various dates, had eaten and left. Random villagers and Asuma, who'd practically inhaled the entire bowl and spit it back out. Kakashi had come, captivating Ayame's attention when he took off his mask to eat.

Even Genma, a random filler sort of nin, had made a cameo appearance, rolling his senbon thoughtfully as he scarfed down a fish cake and paid Ayame generously.

But no Sakura.

Lee felt like going home, putting Lucinda Williams on the radio, crawling into bed, and having a good cry.

He covered his face with his hands, feeling the too-short sleeves yank back at the skin of his arms.

What had he done wrong? Lee racked his brain to try and discover what he had done to offend his flower so painfully.

"Well, here's a familiar face."

Lee lifted his head and turned around to see a familiar brown-clad girl hop up onto the barstool beside him, flopping her head into her hands and staring at him.

He sighed. "Hello, Rian-San."

Rian cocked her head at him, like a dog. What was with the long face?

Rian traced her eyes up Lee's lanky body. Shined, scuffed with use loafer over his good foot. Dress shirt with black and orange squares in a non-overwhelming design , clean black pants. Wow. When did Lee get over his spandex obsession? He actually looked.. Pretty good. Especially when your attention wasn't immediately drawn to his lower torso area.

"You didn't happen to see Sakura-Chan on the way here, did you?" he asked, knowing it was fruitless.

Rian shook her head. Lee slumped even more dejectedly over the countertop, his cheek to the cool Formica as he sighed loudly. Rian looked at him, headband loosely falling down into her eyes before she hurried to retie the knot.

"So." Rian said, pushing her barstool back so that it rested only on it's back legs. "What's with the new clothes? Found a new idol in Don Knotts?"

Lee glanced down at his shirt. Did he really look like Don Knotts? Did Don Knotts ever wear- Oh. Wait. Yes.

"I was supposed to meet Sakura-Chan for some ramen, but.. She hasn't shown up yet." he lied through his teeth. Something told him she wasn't coming at all.

"Ah." Rian said sympathetically. "But why would you two just meet here at the same time? What's so great about that?"

Lee looked at her. Her piercing olive-colored eyes stared straight back at him, making him almost jump.

Those eyes of hers were just downright scary, sometimes. And right now they were boring into his with another question about social skills.

"No." he explained. "See, she would come here at the same time as me, and I'd pay for whatever she ate."

"THAT sounds dumb." she said blankly, taking her menu and pretending to look like she was busily staring at the Daily Special. "She's not poor. She could pay for her own food. Why would you do that?"

Lee sighed. Actually, Rian was beginning to make some sense. He didn't know whether to be frightened of this realization or just take her advice and run with it.

"Well, you do it to show a girl how much you like them." he said carefully, avenging his belief. "It's something guys do when they have Youthful Feelings for a girl."

Rian bit at the corner of her menu as though it were a breadstick. "Well, that still sounds dumb. And Sakura just stiffed you."

Lee nodded, before whirling to face her.

"What? I was not stood up!" he cried desperately, clenching a fist over his heart. "She's just- late."

Geez. That sounded pitiful, even when he cried it with all the belief in his body.

His short-lived resistance crumbled, and he dropped his head to the counter, incurring a hollow noise as his skull collided with the cheap Formica.

"She WILL come!" he corrected himself, feeling his heart drop into his shoes as his eyes closed against the countertop, the cold playing butterfly kisses on his neck.

Rian poked a bug crawling across the counter, eyes sparkling as the bug squeaked in protest to having himself shoved around by a finger.

"OK. You hungry? 'Cause I'm gonna keel over if I don't eat something soon." she said, waiting for Ayame to work her way down to their end of the counter, gripping the barstool and leaning it back as far as she could on it's back legs without sending herself on a direct collision course for the ground.

Lee gave her a miffed glance . He looked anxiously over at the door. Sakura might still show up, he promised himself.

He folded his hands in front of him, eyes still squinted at the door, hoping to catch a glance of an approaching Haruno girl. He tapped his fingers to the counter in quick succession as he waited, analyzing a critical decision mulling in the back of his head.

Rian pushed herself backwards as far as the barstool could possibly go without being horizontal. Gripping the counter with her fingernails, she smiled triumphantly, stupidly, at said achievement.

Ayame set a bowl of ramen in front of a hollow-eyed chuunin, who bit his lower lip as he stared down into his reflection in the steaming broth.

Remembering an afterthought, she turned around and glanced down the left side of the front bar. Wonder if Lee's little date had showed up yet? She couldn't help but have a soft spot in her heart for the little bug-eyed boy. He was so cute, after all! And by the change of his usual attire, she could tell how important this one tryst was to him.

She glanced over the heads of a few customers she'd already served, expecting to see that the kid still sitting there. She sure hoped he hadn't been shown up by this Sakura girl. Every intention she could see he had for her where honest and pure, so far. Maito Gai had obviously taught him about being a gentleman. She cocked an eyebrow and squinted, light lavender eyes furrowed in concentration. Lee was still sitting there, all alone. Aw, poor guy-

Oh no, wait. Aw. There was a girl sitting next to him. She smiled sweetly. How adorable was that? She clasped a hand over her chest as fuzzy thoughts flashed through the female part of her mind.

She walked over towards the two, remembering her duty halfway through a squeal. Lee didn't seem to notice her, since he was engrossed in a menu card, determinedly eying his next meal. His date seemed to be tilting her chair as far back as it would go, grinning stupidly. Playing hard to get, was she now? Was that a _nervous_ look on Lee's face!

They were so cute!

"OK, you two. Can I take your order?" she said, pulling a pen and paper from the black belt fastened around her white skirt.

Rian's barstool promptly shot out from underneath her.

* * *

A small pile of sand had begun amassing itself as Ayame took a final sweep at the floor with the wirehaired broom. The floor gritted underneath her shoes as she brushed the heap out the back door, swirling into the darkness of the back alleyway, making metallic pingings as the debris hit the garbage cans.

She tossed the broom into the back corner and checked the ancient clock on the upper wall. 10:48. Almost closing time.

She flipped her coppery hair over her shoulder, and set to cleaning the stuck-on ramen off the counters from careless customers. The place was pretty much devoid of patrons of because of the hour.

"This means war."

Ah, yes. _Almost _devoid of all it's customers. Ayame began scrubbing a tomato stain off the wall, wondering how it had gotten there.

Rian bit the end of her chopstick repeatedly, teething on the wooden stick's blunt end hungrily as she leaned over the counter, her head resting in her hands as she eyed the charcoal drawings on the countertop.

Lee had sat for three hours waiting for Sakura to show up. Rian had spent the time sitting next to him, watching him look sad and listening to his stomach gurgle as he stirred his ramen unappetizingly.

Naturally, she'd kept her mouth shut, downing her ramen so fast she looked like a wolf going after a penguin, and immediately asked for a refill. She wondered why Ayame had looked at her so strangely when Rian had looked at Lee thoughtfully, before reaching over and poking him in the head.

She, eventually, had been unable to take the silence, and Lee's pious stare at the door, and uncharacteristically opened conversation, asking him how his training was doing.

Lee had absently answered. "Fine." before realizing he was being spoken to and launching into a god-awful boring discussion about tree-kicking and push-ups. Rian didn't seem to mind. Somehow, it was better then seeing him frowning and being silent, out of characterly dressed in something besides green. He almost didn't even look like himself, save for the bowl cut and the sling on his arm.

The conversation had evolved quickly, Lee also finding it better then sitting in silence, waiting for his date. Rian had told him all about how in some country she'd read about, people put bowls in their bottom lips and chains around their necks until they looked like giraffes. That had earned a smile.

The talk shifted from completely random subjects, from training, to the Sand's new treaty with the Leaf, to if Gai-sensei wore tube socks, to the dead deer Rian had found outside their team's training ground a few days ago. Rian had a grand old time poking fun at Neji, making both of them laugh at the analyzations of the Hyuuga's stoic nature, and the times Lee would turn and check the doorway to see if his Sakura-Chan was there gradually became fewer and far between.

Currently, after a few hours of poking each other with their chopsticks and laughing out loud at the random facilitations of their combined minds, they were discussing the familiar subject of Shinobi training.

Lee had found a piece of burned wood, and was busily drawing on the countertop with it, diagramming the pros and cons of various ninja traps. Rian had scooted as close as possible to him to see exactly what he was lecturing, their knees crushed together underneath the table.

Lee was in the habit of occasionally putting his hand on Rian's shoulder, almost as if to keep her attention, in a teacherly kind of way as he pointed out the advantages of Dropping Objects on One's Enemies Heads.

Rian just chewed at her chopsticks until they were toothpick sized, ignoring the electrical sensations that tingled up her spine whenever he touched her shoulder and suggesting variations of situation and how they would trap an enemy in say, the desert, or in a corn field, or in an open meadow. When he would sit back up from leaning over his drawing, Rian would have to sit back to keep from snuffing in strands of his lustrous raven-colored hair that smelt of a strange, clean scent Rian had never before identified.

Lee pointed purposely at the sketchy sign for a canister on his poorly drawn chart. "-And that's where you drop the water directly on top of their heads." he finished, setting the nub of charbroiled wood onto the counter, studying the scratched marks that would indicate an elaborate, yet quickly executed trap.

Rian looked scathed. "Water might be kind of hard to come across in the desert." she said, suggesting a deviation due to lack of supply. Lee scratched under his chin thoughtfully, thinking this over.

"We could always use boiling oil." Rian added, a bright smile gracing her face.

"Boiling oil." Lee grinned, before rubbing out the H2o sign on the poorly drawn canisters with his thumb, changing them to an extremely small "O".

His bandaged, slung elbow awkwardly popped up as he leaned back from his diagram. Rian threw her hand up just in time to catch the limb before the cumbersome plaster would probably have whacked her right in the face. Lee winced at the sudden slap of the hand against the aching, swollen limb, and Rian released his elbow almost as soon as she had snatched it out of her face.

"Sorry." he said, sounding truly apologetic. "It's the plaster. I can't move my arm worth a plug nickel."

Rian tilted her head back to watch a fly buzz it's way across the ramen shop, glad for relief from the fuzzy black hair that had been tickling her nose to the point of making her want to sneeze.

"S'kay. I personally don't know how you stand your arm being wrapped up and all. I'd have torn the damn thing off after about, eh, three milliseconds."

Lee smiled, even as a stab of pain shot up his arm. It was alright as long as nobody touched it. He gripped his shoulder with the opposite hand, shifting softly and rocking back and forth wistfully as he tried to think of other things, besides the ache of his healing arm. It hadn't been bothering him lately.. Since he'd gotten to the ramen stand.

"How was your match with Shikamaru?" he asked, feeling the veil of silence once more transcending as he looked one last time at the doorway.

Rian sat up straight, locking her arms over her head and stretching, her back arching as it cracked loudly.

"Fine. You know, he used his Kagemane jutsu. Took me a couple of minutes to get anywhere near him. I kicked at him, and caught his legs. He went down, but his shadow got me before I could get out of the way."

Lee's eyes widened as he listened, propping his head against his wrist and grubbing his nose against the flat of his hand. Rian had lost?

"And you wouldn't believe it, but the lazy bum just forfeited! Right when he caught me!" she said, as though she still couldn't believe it. "He could have killed me right then, and he just up and quits."

Lee shrugged. "Shikamaru is a strange person." he declared, twiddling a chopstick against his finger. A small frown spread across his face as he put down the wooden stick.

"I'm sorry I missed it."

Rian looked over at him, feeling him scratch at his knee underneath the table, his fingers brushing her knee. She wondered how a small, inadvertent contact like that could make her entire body twitch, of it's own accord, so incalculably.

"You didn't miss anything." she said, studying the counter tiredly. "Technically, we both lost. So, that's the last you'll see me fighting in the exams. Until next year, a' course."

The clock ticked monotonously on the wall, it's hands advertising the late hour to the fleeting number of customers who remained in the small store. Rian absently considered scooching away from Lee, since they were practically jammed beside each other, shoulders touching, elbows conjoined, legs crushed together underneath the table. Funny, Neko-Chan wasn't having a fit about how close they were. The feline despised her to have physical contact with other humans. She figured he must be asleep, napping, curled in a ball.

"I should probably be getting home." Lee said, interrupting the silence and tapping his finger to his chin.

"Me too." Rian added, tossing a handful of change onto the counter and hopping down from the stool onto the patched linoleum floor.

"See you tomorrow, Lee." she called over her shoulder as she pushed the door open, the bell clanging noisily against the glass pane.

"Thanks, Rian." he said, raising a hand to wave feebly. For some reason, the cloud of sadness that seemed to being hanging over him lately had descended on him again, leaving him quiet and sullen as his body began to ache once more. Lee rubbed his painful shoulder wistfully, looking down at the counter.

He was just glad he'd been able to forget his pain for a few hours, and actually have a good time, even if Sakura never did show.

He licked his hand, and began scrubbing away the diagram they'd both pored over, knocking his makeshift pencil to the floor, to be trampled in the early morning rush the next day.

The lines dissipated underneath the heel of his hand, leaving streaks of black saliva across the once-clean Formica. He untucked his shirt, and used the bottom to wipe the wet spit off. Not that it mattered.

He dug into his pocket lethargically as he dropped the damp fabric back against his torso, until his fingers touched the wallet Gai-sensei had given him for Christmas one year, pulling it from his pants compartment and yanking the Velcro apart.

He dropped a couple of ryou on the countertop, the coins clattering as they fell from his hand. He'd had a copious amount of money in his pocket, not knowing what his date would have preferred. Oh well. He had more than enough to pay for one.

Almost instantly, a white hand swept underneath his still-extended fingers and snatched up the money, before holding it back in front of Lee's face.

"Here. You and your girlfriend's are on the house." Ayame said, a graceful smile spreading warmly across her face.

Lee blinked, before gulping loudly and smiling.

"No, no. She's not my girlfriend." he corrected. "She's just my teammate." he said, his voice hiding the smallest plea.

Ayame stared at him with one eye, as though she were reading a subliminal message, or a code beneath the words.

"I don't know. You two were just soooo cute together." she said, resisting the urge to pinch Lee's cheek, like a small child, and clasping her hands in front of her chest, a chibi look in her eye.

A drop of sweat ran down Lee's forehead as he clenched his good hand.

"She was just cheering me up because Sakura-Chan stood me up!" he blurted, anger making him hot under the collar at Ayame's blatant speculation.

"She's just my friend!" he pointed, huffing at the very idea. He _loved _Sakura. Couldn't she see that? Why, the very idea that he'd _cheated _on his Sakura-Chan! How preposterous! What an insinuation!

Ayame looked surprised, opening her heliotrope eyes wide as Lee snorted like an angry bull.

"OK. Don't get your boxers in a bunch." she scolded, making Lee immediately drop his head in submission.

"Sorry, Ayame-Chan." he apologized instantaneously, folding his hands in his lap.

She smiled at his dark head once more, before reaching out and ruffling the coal-black locks with her pale, delicate hand.

"It's OK. And this one is still on the house." she said, before walking boldly back to the back room to go about the rest of the closing up of the ramen stand.

Lee looked after her, until she disappeared into the back room, leaving him completely alone in the front room of empty booths and bar stools.

How could anybody mistake Rian for that? She was, after all, only his teammate.

Nooo. He loved Sakura! It was probably just an oversight on Ayame's part. No problem.

… Or was there?

He turned around to look at the closed door, even though he knew nobody was there.

All she did was make him feel better. It was like it was a _date _or anything. Just, a chance meeting of two teammates. Yes. Teammates. Comrades. Un.

Rian had just happened to show up, and sat in the seat beside him. They'd talked about training while he waited for Sakura. That was _not _a date. Despite all appearances.

But Ayame's alleged thoughts somewhat made him nervous. He tapped his fingertips together, curling his feet up to touch the underside of the orange vinyl of the barstool and slouching his shoulders up to his temples.

What about Sakura-Chan? Had she thought he would really give up his precious Sakura blossom?

No. Never. He smiled at the backing up of his own thoughts. It was just an assumption, based on the fact that it really had, once he thought about it, looked as though he was on a date with his teammate, to the common person who didn't know of Lee's infatuation with Sakura. It was just a faulty theory.

Rian was just a friend. Nothing more, nothing less. And Sakura was still Sakura-Chan, the best sweetheart, and the prettiest girl in all of Konohagakure. Heck with that, the entire Shinobi nations!

He cautiously got down from his chair, groping for his crutch, which he tucked into his over-deodorized underarm for support. He reeked of cheap cologne, aftershave he'd borrowed (found in a drawer and taken) from Gai-sensei, and slapped over his neck generously, screaming right out loud when it hit the little kunai cut underneath his chin. Closing his fingers around the handle piece, he swung himself forward towards the door, cautiously catching himself on his healthy foot.

Lee reached out, grasping the handle of the door to push open into the cool night air, and paused in mid-shove.

If it was just a faulty assumption, why did it suddenly hurt so much to admit it was one?

He swung out into the late night, a puddle of light guiding from a streetlight as he began the walk home.

* * *

A few days later, everyone's senses of security were shattered as Orochimaru's attack rumbled the very foundations of the village. The snake summons battered down the high gates and defensive walls that surrounded Konohagakure as though it were made of string cheese, collapsing the aged brick and creating openings from which Sound nin used as entrances into the now-venerable state of the once-proud town.

They fanned out, spreading like the plague into the stunned providence as the bravest jounin rushed out to face them and the Sannin's snakes. Luckily for the embers of the smoldering municipal, Shukaku's attack had been halted, shaving Orochimaru's half baked plan of grandeur to his monstrous pets and sheer army.

Fortunately as well, the pasty white man had greatly underestimated the sheer mass of Konoha's shinobi forces, and his few hundred loyal Sound nin were quickly met with an overwhelming wall of thousands of Leaf jounin and chuunin. Sharingan and Byakugan against the unholy abilities of scruffy reject nins with Rajput attitudes of their duty there. The grown-ups against the thrown-ups.

Naturally, Konohagakure also was, although shocked by the suddenness of the attack, relatively prepared, shepherding it's non-nin masses to safe grounds, so that the proud and the brave could protect their village with the ferocity of bulldog ants, swarming to the front lines of the fight.

The battle had been waging well for the first few hours of the camisado, the Leaf forces propelling the Sound back out of the wounds in it's country's barriers. The snakes were fighting a losing battle against the village's most powerful jounin outside the crumbled gates. The tide had turned, and the element of surprise was rooting for the Leaf, now.

Sound casualties littered the ground, being stepped on and splattered as the brave chuunin and jounin rushed out to defend the city, shruiken flying, katana and senbon flinging, hands and feet and eyes and ears trained to the towering and diminishing serpent.

Inside the crumbled walls of Konohagakure, medics buzzed hurriedly around the expanse of hospital, tending to the wounded masses, from concussions to utterly destroyed bodies, chakra blazing and feet stomping, yells of commands and screams of pain as stretcher after stretcher of pale, gasping bodies were carted in on makeshift pallets. Gurneys wheeled, bodies seized against cold plastic beds, and blood spilled to the floor in entire basinfuls, diluting clean water for washing the wounds with to buckets of dark, watery swirling containers of frothed shit.

Konoha was winning, it's forces overwhelming the over-estimating small group of the Sound military. It seemed, as the huge snake finally fell, a long filament of solid muscle and vertebrae, that the Leaf had won the surprise attack with minimal damage, as a sword impaled itself into a grey-clothed abdomen of an Otonin. The casualties of the opposing forces far outweighed those of the greater country, equaling complete victory for Konohagakure's already celebrating troops as they rushed onto the battle field to finish off anything left alive.

Funny, nobody noticed the starter of the miniature war himself slip quietly away from the battle, until it was far too late for anyone to possibly alter the inevitable course their slip up of attention conceived.

Otogakure had it's advantage.

Orochimaru kidnapped Sandaime, right out from under Konoha's nose.

The recovery team siphoned to that area found the elder of Konohagakure, Hokage twice over, beloved grandfather, and mentor unmoving on the cold forest ground just a few hours after the last Sound force had been defeated, a sweet smile tugging at his liver spotted cheeks.

The chuunin and jounin recognized the Fuinjutsu remnants, and pieced from that what must have occurred.

Sandaime had sacrificed his body in a contract to the god of death, to seal the Sannin to the afterlife along with him.

There was a breath of relief, like a soft gust of wind across a hot training field when one has collapsed to the cool green grass in exhaustion, temporary reprieve from the warm, suffocating breaths that lay bated in thirsty throats, The Sannin was dead. The threat to the village from the snake-summoning man was no more.

Unfortunately, sentries soon brought word by poofing jutsu, parched lips forming the words over panting gasps of air.

Orochimaru had been seen, fleeing with what of his army was still standing, his arms flopping uselessly at his sides, black and lifeless.

The Third had used the sealing technique to void Orochimaru's arms, making them unresponsive, chained to his body by radiation sign emblazoned seal marks.

The snake man was still a threat to Konohagakure, but with him retreating, ANBU operatives snapping at his heels, there didn't seem to be much they could do.

They gathered the armor-clad body gently, and carried him reverently back to the loving arms of his country, who accepted their loss with tear-filled eyes and steely, sad frowns.

They lovingly prepared the body for burial, washing the lacerated limbs with cold camphor water, and wrapped their beloved Hokage in white coverlets, and displayed him on a rainy day for the entire village to mourn. The grey storm clouds cried the tears the jounin wished they could down to the thirsty ground, patting down lightly and speckling the concrete like freckles on a fair face as they stood in straight rows to view their Village leader one more time, before his body was finally committed to the earth.

Every shinobi villager, dressed in black, moth-eaten mourning clothes from the backs of closets, was given a single, snow white carnation, to place beside their beloved leader, and the greatest of their kind ever known in the small world enclosed between the walls that protected their village once more, even as work on the reconstruction ground to a halt in reverence to the deceased Hokage, as per tradition.

Rian twiddled the bony stem of the carnation in her fingers as she waited her turn to place the meaningless gesture into the growing pile of flowers.

Lee hobbled forward, placing his plant into the mound of white-lace petals. His downcast eyes took in the grim spectacle of the dead Hokage, his eyes closed gently, pale, molded hands folded to his unmoving chest. He looked the way Lee would forever picture him. Peaceful, patient, the smallest pinch of a smile at the corners of his mouth- he might as well have been sleeping.

Lee sighed, the exhaled air warming the cold skin that had eventually numbed by the cold drizzle from the skies above as they opened, and mourned for the shinobi who could not.

He blinked at the carcass of the beloved Third Hokage one more time. Lee had not had a personal relationship with the man, but as Hokage, he demanded respect, even in the stillness of death.

And respect he would receive.

One blue sandal found it's way forward. Then another, bound to a splint. An illustration of hard work. Determination.

Lee had always had something to continue for. Gai-sensei. His dream. Sakura-Chan.

Rian-San.

The word stuck in his mind for a second, before it disintegrated back into the thoughts implaced by the ceremony. A plink of rain dashed to his nose, a prickle of cold to his already frozen face.

And now, there was another someone to continue for. A Hokage who, even if he had never shown Lee a lot of attention, would be happy to hear that someone thought him inspiring enough to count him as a person to strive to be excellent for.

Yeah. Be excellent for.

Lee's heart lightened as he tacked forward, feeling a familiar presence slip up behind him, quiet as a shadow, her breathing setting the pulse for then entire moment.

Another pair of footprints found their way down the walk of Lee's life, as he stepped valiantly with his crippled leg, scuffled noises echoing across the emptiness that seemed to surround you, even when everywhere you looked, here was a person dressed in black, contrasted with a virgin white carnation clasped in a tanned, calloused hand.

Rian stepped after Lee's retreating back, raising her hand to toss her flower onto the pile the rest of the Rookie Nine had already created, along with various other genin ranked children and teenagers.

She paused as the stem fell between her outstretched fingers, her eyes sliding over to the wise face of the elder man known as Sandaime as he lay in is opened coffin.

A thought detachedly crossed her head, but she quickly tossed it aside, tapping her fingers together, the carnation bobbing, backrounded by the marbled grey swirls of clouds hanging low in the firmament above.

"It's a shame." she said, her voice heavy with recollection she was searching for somewhere.

What's a shame is that you're here instead of at training. Sympathy will not make you any better a shinobi.

Rian released her fingers, allowing the carnation to drop from her fingers, tapping inaudibly as it landed in the monstrous mound of the sentimentally traditional flowers. A gust of wind blew past, ruffling the ocean of white filigree petals against the abraded calluses of Rian's fingers.

Her eyes slit half shut, she cocked her head at the Hokage's remains, at the peaceful expression on his face.

Her eyes widened in curiosity, her mouth set in a firm line as she ran her tongue along her bottom lip.

"They must have loved him." she whispered, imagining the affection the people gathered on this Golgotha of concrete, an aura of grief suffocating in it's intensity, the tension of pressed nerves and held-back tears creating an atmosphere of heartache that could not be expressed, for various reasons.

Her hand found it's way back to her side, eyes cast downwards with the closest to sympathy she'd ever felt for anybody.

"You can taste their hurt." she said, the poison of the words bitter on her lips, which she licked, enjoying the slight pressure to them. She had the sudden urge to bite and suck passionately at something. Because she was nervous, because she felt insecure, turning to walk away from the man who had meant the world to Konohagakure.

Lee's shoulder blades poked, bird thin, through his black shirt as he hunched forward, straining his muscles to tack forward across the ground, back to stand to watch the burial with the rest of the gathered shinobi.

He had never felt more stupid, or cumbersome or embarrassed as he swung himself forward on crutches.

He was a taijutsu master, one of the strongest of Konoha's genin. The only 14 year old that could open six of the Inner Gates. A genius of hard work.

He tipped his head up. No more. The training, the back-breaking routines, the late nights practicing mechanical katas, the promises. All gone. Washed away in a blurred, bloody conflict, torrentially swirling in the depths of his memory like the ominous skies above.

His begging eyes pleaded at the falling skies for a reason, or a purpose, or a promise that all would turn out well. To quell the fears gestating in his every waking thought. The fears that he would never recover, that he would have to tack around on crutches for the rest of his life, forced to drink bottles of vile pain medication, while watching the other genin marching off to their missions through his hollow eyes, one hand gripping the buttress of his discontent as he leaned every inch of his paper-thin body against the wooden poles.

Gai-sensei had promised him that he would heal. He was just weak now. Once the bones knit, and his body strengthened, he would be up and bounding around the village once again. And this would all seem like a bad dream.

He closed his eyes. A nightmare.

But, until then, it was all in the waiting. Waiting for his bones to heal, waiting for the muscles to knit, waiting, waiting, waiting, waiting for the day to end, lying in bed and waiting for the daylight to reach from the window and touch his numb, broken body so he could rise and promise himself another day had passed.

That was it. The waiting was killing him.

Being useless and awkward, cumbersome and obsolete, worthless and antediluvian. He couldn't even walk on his own. How could he be a shinobi tool of war when he needed a support system just to walk?

Waiting. Sitting. And waiting.

In time, it would all be over. The nightmare would pass, and he could once again sleep peacefully.

Healing. Waiting. Why was waiting so impossible?

Neko-Chan let a low growl rumble in the back of his throat as his yellow eyes restricted to mere slits.

Lee could have jumped as a breath registered on his neck, his skin trembling as the snuffle of warm exhale stroked the sensitive spot at the base of his neck. He almost drew a hand up to soothingly fondle the twin scars that had never gone away since the Forest Of Death, but kept his shaking hand at his side, displaying his surprise only in his widening inky irises.

"You OK?" came a strangely comforting voice, tone lowered, almost like a growl coming from Rian's lips.

Neko-Chan's ears flattened against the walnut colored fur of his skull, his eyes slashed with anger. Why the hell was Rian spending any of her attentions on this un needing, worthless, boy? He was constantly all over her about the fraction of attention she spent on Lee. Acknowledging this boy as an ally was being wisely controlled by the neko himself, of course. But Rian's choice for a confederate made him ill.

The boy was weak, repulsive. Beneath her.

He just thought that way. Rian, his Rian, was above this Geyi Mayo guttersnipe. And naturally, he was above this freaky little creep as well. Weak. Easily seduced by his emotions. Lee was puny compared to most of the alliances they could have wormed their way into. He was disgusted by her.

But at the same time, he was confused by her motives. Why would a girl, an upcoming shinobi with the potential for greatness, choose to associate herself with such a lowly, undertaking boy with only one clear choice for his future, who constantly fought against the impenetrable walls that would someday collapse on him for his destiny?

It made no sense.

"Yeah." Lee whispered hoarsely, placing his crutch forward for another step, drawing away from the warm exhalation that had suddenly seemed so soothing, as to comfort the chaos in his tumulting mind for a second. The black sleeve of his good funeral shirt chafed at the swollen shoulder of his broken arm.

And he shoved any burst of happiness he was feeling under a mask of a long face.

Even the one that silently wished for a comforting metronome of breath on his neck.

* * *

"LEE!"

Rian sprinted down the hospital hallway, swerving to avoid a collision with a patient wheeling himself gleefully down the halls in his obviously new wheelchair, laughing stridently as the chrome spokes spun, gleaming in the dirty lights that lined the hallways in an autistic fashion.

Rian ducked beneath a cart wheeling into the intersection of halls that led down the cheerily-lit Outpatient Wing of Konoha Hospital. Patients milled about, in wheelchairs and doing caricatures of walking while leaning their bodies heavily against walkers and canes. Jovially fat faced counselors bustled about, replacing clip boards, chatting with official-looking bespectacled specialists about a patient's particular needs. But Rian's bright eyes swept over the crowds in the sunny, well-lit halls of the Physical Therapy sanatorium. She rocketed down the main hall, chakra buzzing as it propelled her down the halls at a speed that suggested she had opened seven of the Inner Gates.

Where was that troublesome Lee? she wondered, as a medic jumped to the side to avoid her by a mile, spilling a stack of papers through the slits between his arms that rained down like a white rain storm, floating teasingly down to scatter their paper selves across the floor as the medic stomped and cursed at Rian's rapidly retreating back.

Didn't he know she had the best news in the world to tell him? Wait, no. Then she wouldn't be looking for him so that she could tell him. And of course he didn't know already. Otherwise, she wouldn't be hunting him down.

But still, did he have to be unconsciously evading her? Especially when she had important information that could perhaps alter his life in ways she couldn't even imagine?

She grinned, imagining the look on her teammate's face when she'd tell him the wonderful news she'd been dying to scream at him since she had first heard Naruto blabbering about it.

She could see it now. That familiar, idiotic smile that burst like an unfolding morning glory across his face as realization began to seep in. He'd probably whoop, and jump up into the air, twirling happily on his crutches in circles. He might even hug her, or Gai. Most likely Gai. The both of them would act like joyful small children, yelling and being generally hysterical, lambent with exultation. Lee would do his famous Happy Dance, wincing and muttering "Ow" repeatedly once he was exhausted by the endeavor.

But, there was a catch. She'd have to find him first.

Rian thundered towards the end of the hall, where the lights were dimmer, because visitors never came to this part of the wing, before turning sharply to the left and continuing to run.

The lights were dark in this area of the sprawling clinic, the mimicked halls coated with paint the color of vomit or really nasty boogers, a sickly green that made you ill enough just looking at it, let alone surrounded by it, in these apparently deserted halls.

The hallway connected dozens of examining rooms were infrequently used, called upon at completely unsystematic slots. Usually only when there were too many patients in the rest of the hospital for the recently-rebuilt wing to hold. Why Lee would have been dispatched here should have struck some sort of chord, but the least she could salvage of it was a hopeless sense of foreboding she just couldn't make go away.

Rian exploded down the hallway, whipping her head from side to side.

Lee was probably in Physical Therapy, retraining his broken limbs to move as freely as they had the liberty to before his fight with the Sand's new Kazekage. Yes, Gaara had been made Kazekage of the Sunagakure shortly after his father was killed, so that Orochimaru might play the entire exam like a flute to gain and test his "new pawn" against the correct forces to "test" Uchiha Sasuke to the now-disabled Sannin's twisted pleasure.

She skidded to the side, facing another seemingly endless wing in a maze of sterile-smelling, overpowering bottle green walls and white doorframes with long forgotten doors hanging from rusty hinges.

This part of the hospital was foreign to her, black and obscure with neglect and obvious lack of care for these examining rooms. They looked weathered without use.

The psychological effects of the repetitive caricatures of hall after hall blurred before Rian's eyes as she rushed, skidded, hop danced and whirled from repetitive hall to repetitive hall, kicking up clouds of dust on the grimy, unscrubbed floor.

It seemed like she traversed miles of dingy, dark hallways, for decades, lost in a sterile, sickening labyrinth. But in reality, it must have been only minutes before she located the light shining from behind the closed door in the unfamiliar hall.

She rushed forward, feeling a wave of eagerness flow through her. Yes! Finally. Lee was gonna be so happy!

She grinned evilly, for reasons she can't describe as she snatched the doorknob and threw the ingress forward. She hopped directly into the light of the room, waving her free arm dramatically as she released all of her pent up vivacity into one huge explosion of her news to the gathered mass multitude.

"Lee! There's this amazing woman named Tsunade coming to Konohagakure! She's gonna be the next Hokage- But, that's, she's like, this AMAZING medic nin -Wrote the book on how to be a doctor and she can probably fix almost any injury, and- and she's like, legendary! And I'll bet my ass that she could fix your- "

Rian was cut off by the utter silence that seemed to slice her right in half as three pairs of eyes gazed sympathetically at her.

A pair of almond eyes slid out angrily from a curtain of flaxen hair, the weight of her judgmental glance directed at the small interruption standing silent in the open doorway. Her lip in a tight line, she pulsed her fingers gently against the soft, scarred skin beneath her outstretched palm, retracting the chakra flow back into her fingertips. She felt the skin shiver beneath her reddened fingertips as the last of her healing energy siphoned back into her body, but she continued to hold her hand to the young boy's back, feeling the taut muscles relax over the bony shoulder blades, once the pain of the chakra flow had been cut off.

A brace of deep brown orbs locked onto Rian next, beseeching with the intensity of the sympathy displayed in them. A kind, bleak smile teased the corners of Shizune's lips as she hugged the pig in her arms securely to the folds of her plain purple kimono. She snuggled her face into the smooth skin of the dwarf sow, looking ashamedly away from the girl in the doorway and hunching her shoulders up as though she could disappear from the stuffy room, and the tension she could feel cutting through her like a knife.

Rian breathed in, feeling her chest heave and her fingers tighten around the rusted door knob as she took in the spectacle before her. Her thoughts reeled with confusion for a second, before she ascertained what must have occurred. A smile suddenly darted across her lips, thick with ignorance.

"Gai-sensei!" she exclaimed, addressing the man standing limply to the side of the blonde haired lady, his expression absolutely unreadable.

Rian bounded over to her teammate, who was currently staring at the ground with wide, shocked eyes, his hands locked to his knees as he slumped forward. His bare back trembled, muscle spasms racking him as he detachedly acknowledged Rian's existence.

"Rian-San…" he began, trying to slip the words between his lips, even though they were stuck in his mind, filling his every conscious thought.

Rian, eyes sparkling, ignored him, before turning to the lady Sannin as her hand fell authoritatively to her side, rumpling the sage green, loosely sashed shirt.

"Hai, Tsunade-Sama! I see Gai-sensei got to you before I could. I just knew you could help Lee-"

"**_Rian!_**"

The angry voice sliced like sharpened shruiken through Rian's words. She turned, puzzled, to face the source of the reproachful scold.

Lee's fingers dug heinously into his kneecaps, his arms trembling as he ducked his head towards his exposed chest, his chin pressing into the space over his heart as though he could fill the rapidly emptying hole that was ravaging a flaming path of destruction in his rib cage.

Rian blinked, looking down at Lee as his body trembled wildly. Gai covered his face with his hand, looking completely lost.

Lee's body continued to shake, as he shriveled his body inwards, shielding his head with his arms, elbows over the top of his black head. He was wrestling inside his mind with the words he was trying so desperately to believe he had not heard. Desperate thought synopses fired like a barrage of military fusillade inside his crumbling, broken conscious.

As though outside his body, Lee commanded his numb arm to grasp the green spandex rumpled at his bony, thin hips. His abdomen quivered against the flat of his hand as it brushed the taut muscles, feeling the elaborate tendons flex underneath the thin layer of skin, prickled with goose bumps and dotted with Caucasian colored scars against the light caramel, sun tanned skin.

His dry lips mimicked the arid, sinful, Rajput desert substance that had killed him a million times in the past weeks, slowly torturing him each time his hollow eyes darted over an expanse of the constituent. His tongue, slippery with tasteless moisture slid ineffectually over the spongy sense of give that was what he figured must be his the cracked skin of his lips.

The fabric slid effortlessly over his hyper-sensitive shoulders, warming the shivering sheets of cold, pale skin. The clinging textile formed to the pointed curves of his cloyed body, around the horrendous jabs of bird-like bones over taut skin, weakly insulating Lee's trembling form. One bandaged hand reached out, groping air until his fingers closed around the familiar permeability of the crutch's arm rest.

Pulling himself to a stand, he brushed off the lofty, sentimental glances, and began tacking forward on his broken, and what he now knew to be unfixable body. He lightly opened the door, side-stepping cordially around a stunned, stock-still Rian, feeling discordant avocado acerbing into his shaking back.

No one could fix what had happened. Not Gai-sensei, not Rian-San, not Sakura-Chan. Not anybody near or dear to him could change this horrible misguidance of fate, or what results this gambling dance with death with scalpels might entail.

The door clicked shut behind him, and silence once again filled the room like a cloud of suffocating poison.

"If I knew this was what you diagnosis would be, I would never have taken him to you." Gai's voice quivered angrily, but to a trained ear, the sorrow being masked with a fragile shield of confidence was palpable.

Shizune's beautiful chocolate eyes widened with the boldness of his statement, before the girl realized the evident boast in the words, her fine eyebrows narrowing to a terrifying glower.

"How dare you-" she began, ready to tear this bastard apart. How abominable for him to insult Tsunade, who had kindly agreed to even _see _his student, with the trillions of other things that had to be done-

"No." Tsunade cut her off, waving her hand to silence her apprentice. Her warm, pecan colored eyes reopened as she placed a comforting hand on the green-swathed shoulder.

"I comprehend exactly how you feel. And believe it, I want so badly to help your student. But, the odds are against him. That is the extent of even my skills, Gai."

"Tsunade-Sama." Rian questioned, looking at her with deep request and a knot of foreboding curdling in the girl's already stress-ravaged stomach. "Can-can.. You can, help Lee.. Can't you?"

Tsunade straightened her back, her hand returning to her side as she gathered the words to explain to the innocent eyes half-hidden underneath a coming-undone hiate ate.

"I don't know." she answered honestly, comprehending the seemingly hopeless state of affairs in her already activity-buzzed mind.

"Lee's injury would be extremely hard to repair, even without the one major problem. You see, fragments of bone are impacted along his spinal cavity, embedded between vital arteries and veins. To begin the repairs, I would need to remove the bits, but one slip, and he would bleed to death right there on the operating table. If that part of the procedure succeeds, and that is a rather large 'if', then I would have to regenerate the cells in his crushed arm and leg. That requires a massive outpouring of chakra, one of which I'm sure I have. And also, I would likely have to use a highly unstable method of cell regeneration to repair the limbs. The stress on his entire system would be extreme, and his body, given his inability to naturally mould chakra, probably won't be able to handle the amount required. It's an uncertain high stake. I would give the surgery about a 50 percent chance of success."

Tsunade finished her candid speech, standing authoritatively to face Lee's teammate, who was standing in front of the now closed doorway, a shocked look across her bleach colored face.

50 percent chance of survival? What- no. That couldn't be. Lee could- how.. But, fifty percent of death? Chakra moulding- spinal cavity, ce-ce-cell regener- regeneration? High stakes operation that Lee would, _would _survive. There was no time to grapple with denial.

Lee _would _survive it! No matter what!

He'd survived his battle with Gaara, he'd survived those first harrowing days of recovery, catatonic and barely hanging on to life- was it really not so long ago? It seemed like eternity.

Lee **would** make it. No matter what. A stuffy doctor with a chest that could swallow a Buick may know about repairing wounds and performing surgeries, but she knew _nothing_, absolutely _nothing_, about a boy named Rock Lee.

Rian squared her shoulders, standing up straight, feet shifting beneath her as she stood haughtily, strong in her opinion. She smiled, and titled her head up to look her straight in the knife-like eyes.

"Well. Alright, then." she said, a hint of arrogance pepping her tone, before a sudden thought struck her by surprise.

"You will do it, won't you?" she asked, her eyes welling up at the thought of this chance slipping right through their fingers. She eyed Tsunade desperately, hurriedly calculating how to convince the woman that Lee was worth the effort of this timely surgery- Wait, was Lee worth the effort?

"If I receive permission from the patient." she turned to Gai, who was standing defeatedly, slumped like a man who had lost everything he knew and held close.

"-And his guardian."

With that, the woman dismissed herself, waving over her shoulder for Shizune, carrying their pet pig, to follow after. The door closed, clicking shut. Suddenly, it was only Gai and Rian in the small, stale room, the metal examining table gleaming unpromisingly in the bright hospital regulation light bulb above.

Gai's shoulders shook as he fought not to crumble under the weight now pressing on him.

Rian turned to face the faded white paint of the door, as Gai's trembling shook the very foundations of the silence. She felt herself like just dropping to the floor in a convulsing fit. But she kept backing up the belief that had sustained her in the first seconds as the atomic explosion had sent shock waves shuddering through her.

Her fist clenched at her side, as she was once again rocked by a tremor of doubt. Her lungs burned with the miasma of the toxic fears worming their way slowly into her very subconscious thoughts. Gestating to feed on the worry and bitterly sweet anxiety curdling in her.

"I'm going to go talk to Lee." Gai said, shattering the silence, releasing his scattered birds and empty thoughts seeming to pour from his heart, gingering his voice. He gripped his left shoulder in his cupped right hand, swinging back and forth slightly, facing away from Rian.

He knew if he turned to her, he wouldn't be able to keep it in any more.

Rian blinked a few times, letting his words seep in, before they sedimented in her conscious.

"Alright." she said, opening the door, and beginning to exit the small room. Gai-sensei would take care of him. Whatever nervousness he had, Gai, his near father, could probably quell.

Rian suddenly paused, halfway out the door. She laid one hand on the door frame, and stood for a moment, before turning around.

Her sensei's back met her with a wall of stony, hidden emotion. Gai's arms were crossed over his chest as he rocked back and forth on his heels. He seemed to be studying the wall with a copious amount of energy, standing stiff at his full height, elbows held in cupped hands.

"He's going to be OK, you know." Rian said, hoping her teacher would pick up her poise, and bound off with his usual Gai-ness to cheer his favorite student.

No response came from the man in spandex, who simply kept his back to his young, innocent pupil, a wall of resilience and knowledge separating the two by a distance comparable to oceans, even if they were only a tiny hospital room away from one another.

Gai wished he had half her confidence.

* * *

After some convincing on Gai's part, a heartfelt discussion on Lee's, and tears on both of their behalves, Lee marched up to Tsunade as best he could on his crutch, and forcefully agreed to the procedure.

The surgery was scheduled in just a few days. Lee wanted a chance to live for a while, if this operation did in fact prove to be his final stay in a hospital.

He woke up the day before the procedure with a light, cloudy feeling of paranoid dread, but otherwise had never felt more alive in his life.

He talked to Sakura-Chan that day, walking with her down the path as she went to train with her teammates.

Sakura seemed sympathetic to Lee's dilemma, but merely batted her eyes when Lee suggested her visiting him when the surgery was over. She immediately mumbled something, before beginning to flirt voraciously with Uchiha Sasuke as soon as the Uchiha showed up on the field, Naruto bopping around happily, talking to Lee for a while before Kakashi showed up, and Lee was obliged to leave them.

He never had such a day as that last one. He walked around Konoha, taking in all the places he had never had time to go to, talking to people he hadn't seen in forever, and just generally making it a good day.

He followed Gai around, wanting to spend the remainder of his apparent lifespan with the man he looked up to most. The jounin was more then happy to have his student spending even more time with him then he already did, and savored the day as special, because it may very well have been their last one.

Neither of them wanted to outright admit it, so they kept up a façade of cheery smiles and brainwashed themselves against the exceedingly upcoming gamble that awaited.

Rian had been following him for a few hours. Actually, half the day had passed before he first realized the girl was nervously following him. It first came as a schizophrenic sensation that someone was eyeing him. He turned around in just enough time to see Rian fall flat on her face out of a tree she'd been hanging in.

Lee, although slightly confused as to why his teammate would stalk him so, spent a while with her, the both of them cheerfully poking fun at various people, and doing all around strange things that Lee would never have though to do in his entire life.

It was then that his suspicion was confirmed. He'd been mulling over it since his and "Sakura's" date, but had carefully avoided the subject, until a few hours with her made his concern absolute.

Rian was _weird._

It wasn't just in the way she would talk to herself occasionally, or the way her green eyes sparkled when she smiled, or when she'd yelp out loud when something surprised her. It was in the way she made candid, casual, and absolutely hilarious observations of everyday life.

Years of listening to Neko-Chan's bad jokes had prepared her with a comeback to almost anything. And taught her how to poke fun at almost anything. Heck, even if it wasn't funny, Lee still laughed. Rian wondered if there was a caterpillar crawling up his back or something. She'd never heard Lee be so hysterical over a dumb joke before. Maybe humor really was the best medicine. Or Lee had slept to near some cleaning solvents the night before.

Lee didn't think he could have had more fun with a barrel of monkeys then he had just sitting on the ground and chattering with his teammate and friend. He would have never expected Rian, the quiet little throw-over in almost anything, to have such a random and candid way of wheedling a laugh out of him.

Rian was dilutive, and small, rarely noticed, and mostly kept to herself. He didn't know if it was him that made this wild side of her come out of her, or maybe something else. But, there was even a drop of honesty in her that refused to let him believe she was putting on a mask of humor. A sense of humor like hers had to be cultivated. It didn't just suddenly happen to you.

And that sent him a strange message. Before, he had always thought Rian a little... well, bland. She didn't seem to have anything to her, like she was just an emotionless, unthinking, unfeeling tool.

But, that last day showed him that there was more to his teammate then he could have ever imagined. He slyly realized he had always known there was something behind those olive green eyes. Something about the twinkle in the corner that appeared when he erupted in all-out laughter, something about the way he knew she casually side-stepped around discussing his injury in any way besides poking fun at it.

Lee never laughed harder than he did on that late summer day, when the sun baked down on two tossled haircuts as they both fought valiantly to keep straight faces in the midst of insurmountable, childhood innocence that could only be obtained through crystalline laughter.

Lee got a part of himself back then, tilting his head to a sinking orange sun, feeling the warmth radiate through his crushed limbs and over every inch of his usually frozen face.

It seemed, that for all his talk of youth, he really didn't know what it was like to be a real kid. Until a random flapdoodle of fate showed up in a package known as Rian and showed him a whole new realm called Laughing Your Ass Off.

When the hour had become late, much too soon, in Lee's opinion, they both said their good-byes, promising they'd see each other tomorrow. A few waves, a snippet of an inside joke, and they both went their separate ways. Rian slammed up the steps of her apartment building, irritating her neighbors infinitely, before unlocking her door, falling flat on her stomach on her mattress, and bursting into tearless sobs in the fabric of the worn pillow.

Lee tacked home, still joyful about his wonderful last day. He whistled, feeling a new sort of joy he had never felt before. He repeated over and over those magic words that had made him forget his pain for the entire day. It seemed like forever since he had had an entire day to himself. Not thinking about pain, not thinking about his surgery, no thinking about.. Anything.

He smiled deeper, and limped his way to Gai-sensei's home. He wanted to get a final visit in with the big man before night beckoned him home.

A half-moon shown down, illuminating the entire city in a beautiful, iridescent blanket, like a thin layer of snow. June bugs fluttered in the foreign fields, not so long ago, singing and hopping amongst themselves in the muggy July air.

Lee paused, just before he began hopping limply up the four or five stairs to Gai-sensei's door.

He stood, his loose shirt billowing at his waist, feeling his skin soak in every bit of the warm night atmosphere, watching the paper lanterns swing at the street corners in fond remembrance, beacons of something nobody could place.

He tilted his head to the sky and smiled. That summer afternoon would continue to capture him years from then, he knew.

* * *

Lee ended up falling asleep on Gai's couch, his head pillowed on his mentor's chest as Gai snored, the both of them having nodded off when the satellite signal went out, leaving a snowy screen humming angrily for the entire night.

Gai eventually roused himself at the hour he had appointed so that he might get up and be at the Hospital before his student's surgery, lest it be the last chance he have to see him, before shaking Lee awake and reminding him what day it was. Lee had grimly sat on the couch while Gai made himself halfway presentable, staring at his knees and trying to fully wake up, yesterday the farthest thing from his mind.

Eventually, the pair had made it across the unawakened city in the blue light of twilight.

Lee gripped his crutch tighter, and walked closer to Gai. This time when the city sleeps, and they were the only ones, and they walked alone, was utterly foreign and lonely to an extent he had never before realized.

The hospital had never looked so welcome to him, as he hurriedly hobbled up the front steps and through the automatic doors, back to the sterile white prison he hated so much.

Surprisingly, there was already somebody waiting for them in the lobby. Rian's green eyes shone as she spotted Lee and Gai hobbling and plodding respectably into the Bentadine scented building.

Tsunade, bright and cheerful for even an hour so early, had beckoned her patient back, giving him a quick examination while Shizune chased Tonton up and down the halls.

Tsunade had given what part of Team Gai was present a few minutes to each other while she went to go see about the anesthesia- mainly, the wayward pig that was tangled in the wiring.

Gai, still not completely awake, gave Lee a fatherly hug before sitting down to chug-a-lug a cup of coffee, staring hollowly at the moldings of the room as the caffeine worked it's way through his system.

Lee and Rian had sat awkwardly beside each other. Rian awkward, because she had stolen away from her apartment before Neko-Chan was awake. She was afraid of what the cat might say if he found her waiting to show her teammate off to his surgery. It was rebellion, somewhat, and she wasn't entirely too comfortable with that.

Lee was a nervous wreck. Not because the time of the operation had come, but another reason.

Lee constantly forgot things. When he packed for missions, pencils at the Academy, extra bandages and weapons, things on shopping lists, errands. So, it seemed rather fitting that he had also forgotten this yesterday, when he actually had the chance to fulfill his list of things he had always wanted to do before he died.

He twiddled his fingers nervously, slouching inside his oversized borrowed hospital pajamas. His feet curled together, savoring their combined warmth as he nervously mulled over the dilemma currently facing him.

This was something no boy should die without experiencing. But, wasn't it supposed to be someone you had Youthful Feelings of Love for?

Wasn't it fine and dandy that he'd forgotten to request this from Sakura yesterday? That was the only girl he would ever want to do this with. But, at 6 a.m, and being prepped for surgery, it didn't seem like too excellent a time to rush over to his Sakura-Chan's house and request this of her.

And, that was where his problem was.

Rock Lee was not gay. And the only female present was- he swallowed nervously. Rian.

He wiped a line of sweat from his forehead as he considered the weight of what he was about to do.

Rian would never trust him again! Or, she might. But, would this damage their fragile, nascent friendship in any way? He knew Rian didn't trust people easily. How would he bear it if he lost his good friend, over something so silly as a young boy's fancy?

On the other hand, he could just die and never know what this was like. But, no. He had to! It was not only Youthful, but to him, it was a Rite of Passage, right up there with your first chest hair and your first shave.

He clenched his fists on the armrests of the chair. This was vital to his upcoming growth as a man!

He brought a fist at his head and frowned determinedly.

If I do not got through with this, I will not survive my surgery!

There! Now he had to do this! His confidence rising, he turned to his side to face the girl sitting beside him-

And crumbled.

_Great!_ He thought, cradling his head in his hands. How was he ever going to do this?

He drew his head up once more, steeling himself more then the time he had to put a cough strip on his tongue. He had to do this! As a man, and a Green Beast of Konohagakure, it was his duty!

Lee poked his head up, refusing to chicken out as his eyes lay on Rian, who was lazily reading a used magazine from the table full of outdated reading material.

_Do it! If you do not, Sakura-Chan will never love you! Your teeth will never become as shiny as Gai-sensei's, and you will never become a great shinobi!_ he lectured himself inside his head. His fists clenched until they trembled on the wooden arm rests. His left eye twitched as he stared at Rian's head, as she lethargically flapped to the next page of the seemingly archaic digest.

"Rian-San." Ouch. Saying her name so formally, with what he was about to do? Shame, shame!  
"Rian? C-C-Could I have a word with you?" he tried, slapping himself mentally for sounding so.. _dorky._

Rian's head popped up, her eyes questioning with a look that read "Um, yes. I'm sitting right in front of you.".

Lee began beating himself up inside for his stupidity, before pointing dumbly at the partition between this waiting room and the one beside it. For some reason, there was a half way built wall separating them. Budget cuts, Rian would suggest, had she been asked.

"Over there."

Rian's eyebrow tilted up in confusion, but she said, "Alright." and started to get to her feet.

Alright. So innocent. HOW could he do this? Selfish, selfish, Lee!

But all his scoldings did nothing, as another part of him repeated the promises he had made before. He gripped his crutch, and hobbled over behind the wall. Gai didn't seem to take notice, or see Lee's motive, much to his relief. Looking back from over his shoulder, he rounded the corner to see Rian staring at him with a look of concern.

He stood before her, suddenly feeling like he was standing there in his underwear. Imagine, stage fright in front of one person. He couldn't even crack a smile at that.

He cleared his throat into his hand, glad to take his eyes off her for a second to berate himself some more for even asking this question. Maybe she would say no..

"R-R-Ri-Rian.. I- I need to ask you.. A-a favor…" he managed to choke out, unable to look her in the face.

Rian was beginning to get concerned, even though she fiercely fought the bubble of compassion growing in her throat. She just blanched at him with wide, slightly sleepy eyes.

"Sure. What do you need?"

Lee looked at her through one eye, before turning bright red and looking down at the floor. Behind his back, he toyed nervously with his fingers, rubbing his feet together.

"Well.. Well, you see, Rian.. As a boy of my age, it's my- I mean, see.. There's a.. um.."

Damn! He was screwing this up so bad! He flinched as he gathered himself and stood up, tall and straight to his full height.

It was then he realized how short Rian was. The top of her head just reached the bottom of his chin. And right now, she was tilting her head backwards to look completely at him, her eyebrows skewered up and down with confusion.

Lee glared down at her, before slapping himself for looking that way and returning to his normal, human looking expression.

"Rian. I'm not going to sugarcoat it." Wow. When did he get so authorative? His voice was that of a drill sergeant, rather then a crippled fourteen year old.

"I may die during this surgery."

Rian blinked. Was that it?

"Yes, Lee. I know." she replied calmly, half wanting to make a comment about his deep voice.

Lee looked at her for a second, before he felt his old nervousness creeping back over him.

No, no, no! He yelled at himself, biting his lip and suddenly gaining chibi eyes. He nearly sobbed into his shoulder.

NO! Even worse! He stood tall once again, wiping his nose on his arm.

Good lord. What was Lee doing? His expressions were cycling faster then two sets of tandem bikers with rockets on their butts. And why did he look so nervous? Rian wished Neko-Chan were awake to tell her.

Lee cleared his throat, even more determined this go around. He kept a regular expression painted on his face, a mask to hide the abounding uneasiness that was eating him inside.

"See, Rian. There's something I've always wanted to do before I die. And, it has to be done with a girl."

Rian cocked her head sideways, one eyebrow inching up in confusion. Damn! Why did she have to look so cute and innocent when she did that?

"S-S-see.. You, um.." Lee scolded himself again, feeling his face flush a shade akin to a tomato. Why couldn't he do this?  
"I, I forgot to ask Sakura-Chan for this, yesterday. I would have much preferred it to be her, I assure you! But, I really can't find another girl anywhere, so-"

"Lee, what is this?" Rian interjected, her voice like a hissing cobra's.

Lee's eyes widened again, and he hurriedly grubbed his nose on the heel of his hand.

"Rian-San.. I need you to give me.. Um.."

Her green eyes narrowed, boring into him with annoyance and curiosity.

"It won't hurt, I swear!" Lee said, snapping to a salute, backing up his statement. "I just… don't want to die and not know what this feels like."

Rian cocked her head father to the side, her angry look softening.

"Look, whatever it is, just do it. I honestly don't care. If it's that important to you-"

"But you don't understand!" Lee exclaimed, grabbing her by the shoulders and shaking her back and forth as the stress of the moment overtook him. "This is something you're supposed to do to a person you love with all of your heart and soul!"

Rian flopped her head up to look at him, ignoring the bandaged hands gripping her by the arms.

"What's so important about this that you have to think that highly of the recipient?"

Lee looked at her, biting his lip and trying to find the word.

"Well.. Nothing, really. But, it's just special when it's your first one, and should not be enterprised wantonly.."

Rian's confused face stared up at him as he released her shoulders. She looked as though she was thinking very hard on the subject, before she finally spoke, breaking Lee's nervous wait.

"It's OK. If you think it's that important, go ahead." she said.

Lee looked at her with wide eyes. "You don't mind?" Was she joking with him?

Rian shrugged. "You seem pretty damned keen to do whatever it is you're planning, and you said it wasn't important, so.. Yeah."

It took Lee a second to realize she wasn't kidding, and to turn so red he looked to the passer-by that he was going to explode. Sweat began pouring down his neck, soaking the collar of his off-white shirt.

"Um, O-O-O-Okay…" he said, unhooking his arm from around the crutch. He wanted to be standing on his own for this. No artificial support was going to ruin this moment. He took a tentative step forward, closer to his teammate. Rian's eyebrow jumped up as she watched him do this. What kind of mind game was this-

He stopped when he was just about a few inches in front of her, and just stared nervously down at her, his arm swinging like a metronome in the sling hanging from his neck.

"I-I've never done this before.. So, just, just, I may not do it ri-"

"Lee! For god's sake, just do whatever it is you're thinking about doing!" Rian interrupted, her tone sharp as she scowled up at him. She was really getting tired of this!  
Before he could chicken out, Lee swept one hand behind Rian's back, and yanked her towards him. Rian didn't even have time to react before his other hand caught the side of her face, and turned it to look straight at him.

Lee didn't even breathe, for fear he wasn't supposed to. He just closed his eyes, leaned forward, and prayed Rian wouldn't kill him or something.

Rian opened her mouth to let loose a string of curse words at Lee, who had closed his eyes and was swallowing hard. She went to jerk at the arm around the small of her back, but before she could even utter the first syllable of a "shit", she found she couldn't.

Rian's eyes bugged wide open as Lee pressed his lips to hers. She just stopped fighting against the arm locked like a vice around her back, and stopped trying to reach up and knock his hand away from her face.

She couldn't breathe. Oh my god, she couldn't breathe! What the fuck was he doing? WHAT THE FUCK WAS HE DOING?

After what seemed like decades, or to average children what might have been a few sunny moments, Lee pulled back, and let his arms drop back to his side.

He gasped for air as he stood before her, hugging his arm to his chest and panting like a dog.

His first thought was, _Wow! Let's do that again! _

Somebody get the number of the truck that just hit him! What had- He then winced, and cowered, remembering Rian was likely to slap him or hit him with a rolled up magazine, even as euphoria coursed through his veins. The feeling of happiness popped like a balloon right then, as cold fear began running through him.

What had he done? This was awful! Rian would never look at him the same way again. Not only had he stolen his teammate's first kiss, but in some awful way he felt like he'd cheated on Sakura. For a moment, everything was great, fine and dandy and oh my god, let's do it again. But now, reality stepped in, and broadsided Lee like an open door on a parked car door to a skateboarder going downhill.

And, Rian was going to whack him. Hard. Really hard. His head was going to bounce off, and roll across the floor, and probably get stuck between some little old lady's feet.

_She's going to hit me, she's going to hit me,_ he repeated to himself, blocking his face with his arms and gritting his teeth, waiting for the force of the blow to knock him to the ground.

Lee felt like a very selfish bastard right then.

But, no blow knocked his head off. Nothing even touched him.

Finally, he gathered what courage he had left to peek up over his arm, opening one eye. The sight he saw definitely surprised him.

Rian was standing with her hands at her side, looking down at the ground. Her face was furrowed with concentration, and she was sucking at her lips dedicatedly, as though checking to see if they were still the same lips before Lee's mouth had gotten on them.

Lee lowered his hands, looking confusedly down at her. What was she doing? Why wasn't she slapping the hell out of him for being so bold?

"That was for Sakura?" she said, sounding dazed, and brought one hand up to her lips as she stopped sucking at them, almost like she was making sure Lee hadn't done something awful to her.

Lee gulped, waiting for the slap. "Yes."

She looked at her hand, cocking her head to the side, before gritting her fingers together confusedly.

"OK."

Okay? Okay? Just '_Okay_'? No yelling? No smacking? No pistols or flame throwers? Just, '_OK_'?

Lee felt the last of the adrenaline rush dying down inside him as Rian poked her head back up to look him right in the eye.

"So why did you give it to me?" she asked, sounding like a four year old asking her daddy a question.

He coughed into his hand, beginning to feel as though there was filth crawling up his body. He was tainted, now. His first kiss, and he didn't even love the recipient of it. This should have been something special. Mainly, for Sakura.

"Because Sakura-Chan wasn't here." He felt like a two-timing, unfaithful husband. What kind of excuse was that? This was definitely not worth it.

Rian nodded, as though comprehending a great truth, before looking away.

"You have anything else for Sakura?" she asked innocently, wondering where on earth he came up with such a.. was it repulsive? Thing.

_Hell yes!_ Lee's brain screamed, as he licked his lips hungrily, before startling, and slapping himself inside for such thoughts. What possibly could make him ever want to do that again? What about Sakura-Chan?

Rian suddenly laughed, frightening Lee out of his mind. What was she laughing at? Him?

"Hee-heh. I get it, Lee." she said happily. "Good one!"

Joke? Did she think this was a joke? He felt slightly miffed that she could take something this important and put it out of context so. He was freaking out, and she was laughing?

"It's not a joke, Ri-" he started to reprimand, ready to lecture her on the importance of one's first kiss and all it entails.

"Lee, Tsunade-Sama says to go ahead back." Gai interrupted, leaning around the partition.

Lee was eternally grateful that Gai hadn't popped in during his and Rian's little.. Ahem, 'incident'.

"Still friends?" he asked, speaking the words before he even realized they'd slipped from his mouth.

"Of course." Rian answered, looking at Lee as though he were crazy to insinuate otherwise. She gave him a winning smile, and strode casually out from behind the wall, to where Gai stood.

It took Lee a few moments to think this over, before he reached for his crutch once more and tacked along the partition and towards the OR.

He'd done it. He'd gone and gotten his first kiss in a hospital waiting room. From his teammate.

Well, maybe it didn't matter. Suddenly, the whole issue of 'who' didn't seem as big as 'when'.

He'd done something he'd always wanted to do. In a way, this was a rite of passage. He was now officially a.. what was he? He was too young to be a real man, and fourteen was stuck _right_ there, too close to pimples, and too far from facial hair.

So, in answer, Lee wasn't anything.

He sighed. He was just a teenager who had osculated his teammate in a hospital room what he was sure was against her will, had she known his intention.

Nothing had changed. He was just Rock Lee.

But, he still had a friend named Rian. He smiled. And he still loved Sakura-Chan.

It was like the whole ramen thing. It had made him nervous, because he was toying closely with his feelings about Sakura. Because he was close to another girl. The contact with Rian made him nervous, but, in the end, it only made his love for Sakura stronger, because he learned to resist _temptation_! Even if the tempter knew almost nothing about social skills.

_Yosh! Another victory for youth,_ he thought as he hobbled into the small room and pulled himself awkwardly up onto the table, dropping his crutch against the wall and laying on his back on the cold, metal table. He hadn't even flinched this time, when his body contacted with the freezing stainless steel of the operating table.

Operating table. It sounded eerie, even in his head.

"I'll take care of your crutch for you." Gai teased from the doorway, now in much better spirits and much more conscious after a nice cup a' Joe. The elder Green Beast flashed Lee a thumbs up from the doorway, his teeth pinging as he grinned at him. Lee returned the pose with a shaky smile, and a weak thumbs-up back.

Now, he was just nervous because he was going under the knife.

Rian's head popped up from under Gai's arm as she tried to squeeze past him to get into the doorway for a good bye. She apparently gave up, just her head sticking from Gai's underarm.

"Good luck, Lee." she said simply, smiling brightly at him. Her headband suddenly came undone, loosing and falling over her eyes, resting on the bridge of her nose. Lee enjoyed watching her face slip from the smile into a comical frown.

Tsunade bustled in, larger then life, with Shizune and a leashed and protesting Tonton, whom Shizune tied to a nearby ground light.

The female Sannin shoved both Gai and Rian out of the doorway, while Shizune made herself useful by doing various things with the scalpel-like instruments on a tray nearby.

Lee clacked his feet together, his hands folded on his stomach as he stared directly up at the white, Stuccoed ceiling above him, listening to Tsunade chatter from behind a clipboard to Shizune, as the younger began scrubbing her hands up to her elbows with sterile-smelling soap in the wide sink in the corner of the OR.

"Okay!" Tsunade announced joyfully, putting the clipboard down on a nearby table and smiling down at him. It occurred to Lee that while Tsunade was an excellent medic, he had no doubt, she wasn't one to follow the usually strict rules about order in an OR.

He nodded. "I have complete confidence in you." he said, pinching his face into a challenging frown, before saluting her with one bandaged hand.

Tsunade laughed, before brushing the black hair away from Lee's forehead, tracing the pale skin with one long fingernail.

"I wish had half your self-assurance." she said, before reaching over and taking an opaque plastic mask from a nearby table. Lee allowed her to slip it around the back of his head and reposition the mask over his nose and mouth. This being his first time having surgery, Lee was completely inexperienced in the field of what to do.

"You ready?" she asked, surprisingly gentle, her almond eyes narrowed softly. Lee thought absently that they reminded him of his mother's eyes, before she'd died, that is. Kind. Warm. They almost looked like Sakura's..

Green was prettier.

"Mm-hm." he nodded. Tsunade leaned back over, pulling the oxygen mask back into the correct position over his nose and mouth. Lee glanced out at the tiny, distorted view of the room through the plastic just below his eyes.

Shizune gave the knob on the gas tank a twist with her hand as she yanked a glove onto the other. There was a metallic hiss, and suddenly, suddenly, Lee couldn't breathe.

He flinched, and tried to sit back up, commanding his arms to push him back up, albeit a bit shakily. Tsunade took notice, and hurriedly placed a hand on the center of his chest, halting him from moving.

"Shh. Shh. Lee, don't move. Just breathe, OK?" she said, her voice tender as Lee's panicked eyes beseeched her for help.

Suddenly, He felt.. Tired. Really, just.. Tired. The room began to turn black as his eyelids slid shut. He frowned worriedly as his body ceased to move, as his mind started holing up for a temporary hibernation.

He suddenly found that the only thing he could concentrate on was the soothing feeling of Tsunade's hand as it stroked his forehead in a maternal gesture. His mom used to do that, too. Right before she went on the mission.. The one they never came back from.

She'd do that when he had a nightmare, and couldn't sleep. She'd wipe his tears, and let him snuggle up to her stomach, while she'd caress circles in his little forehead, quietly singing a lullaby Lee could only make out snippets of in his dreams.

Maybe he would dream, during this surgery, he thought. Maybe he could finally remember the words to that soothing lilt he would hum when he woke up at night, feeling alone. He outright smiled as the entire world went dark behind his closed eyelids.

And his last conscious thought was, that Rian had tasted like a chocolate Pop Tart.

**A/N: Oh, Lee, you dumbell! CHOCLATE POP TART SMOOCHYS! -having fit-**

**... I just received the word that my fanclub in Florida is pretending to be me. (Victoria is sitting cross legged and typing in her lap, and Benjamin is still acting de-pwessed.) **

**Review, please. I'm so scared about this chapter..**


	12. Saviors

**Author's Note: Sorry for making you all wait. It's been really hectic on this side of the cord. We have some brand new fanart by me. And they are much better than the ones that were there already. Check them out, please. And if you do, would you care to leave me a comment? -clasps her hands and puts on puppy eyes-**

**Drunken kisses in this chappie! And, the fight with Kimimaro is going to be a long one. I couldn't believe it was 21 pages...**

**This chapter dedicated to.. bowserjr. Look at the fanart she did for this story! Isn't it wonderful? I lurve her so much! -Inner Fangirl glomps her-**

"TSUNADE BAACHAAAAAN!"  
Tsunade sighed, letting her flaxen locks shield any passer-by from her exasperated grimace as a pair of footsteps roared over the linoleum in a direct collision course with her back.

That Uzumaki brat was back. She'd recognize the high voice that suggested puberty was about fifteen years away for him anywhere. She reluctantly turned around, to address the orange-clad annoyance.

Sure enough, there came Jiraiya's little charge, running down the hallway as fast as his short legs could carry him. His whiskers were bent as he smiled idiotically, eyes wrenched shut in chibi crescents.

"TSUNADE-BAACHAN!"

"I heard you the first time." the woman said hotly. She hadn't even _begun _to speak to the brat and she was already sick of him. This conversation was most definitely heading downhill.

"And I thought I told you not to call me an old woman." One thin, chrome eyebrow raised in an expectant scold, one corner of her painted lip tucking inward as Naruto skidded to a stop from where he'd been running down the hallway to greet/annoy her and began dancing as though he couldn't control his body.

"How did Geyi Mayo's surgery go?" he asked, Tsunade wincing at the sheer volume of his squeaking voice.

"Ugh! Naruto. Lower your voice a few thousand decibels." she annexed , running her glossy fingernails through the blonde strands of hair that had come loose from her usual hairstyle, feeling flax textured hair slide effortlessly between her white fingers. She smiled slightly and sighed, scratching her scalp harshly with her faded red nails.

Naruto crossed his arms and stomped his foot like a three year old having about to have a tantrum, his face screwing into a pout, lower lip jutting out insanely far. He harrumphed loudly, and shrugged his shoulders up to his ears. Even Tsunade had to raise an eyebrow at the fox child's peculiar behavior.

"Well, how do you expect me to keep quiet when you won't answer my questions?" he yelled, jumping up and down uproariously.

Tsunade's eyebrows nearly met beneath the brown chakra node above her eyes as she scowled at the obnoxious and annoying genin.

"All right, you little twit." she said, bringing one rose-tipped finger to jab angrily in his face. "I have intensive care patients on this wing, and you're going to disturb them with your insanely loud squeaking. Second of all, why don't you just go see your little friend instead of bothering _me_?"

Naruto ceased his leaping about, before settling in front of the pea-green clad woman, arms still crossed defiantly over his brilliantly orange jacket.

"Because I can't _find_ the Geyi Mayo, or Bigger Geyi Mayo!" he said, sounding as though he'd been searching for the pair of Green Beasts all day. He rolled his eyes and made a "Hmm!" sound to bring his point home, rocking back and forth on his heel and chewing on his lower lip as he waited for the female Sannin to remedy the situation.

"I can't even find Geyi Mayo's girlfriend, and she's here about 24/7!"

Tsunade rolled her eyes. She had patients to attend to, high risk patients, none the less, and the Kitsune Imp was demanding something a medic at the front desk could have told him twenty minutes ago.

Wait. Did he mean Rock Lee? The Bushy Browed kid who'd had the regenerative surgery?

She tapped a polished fingernail to her chin, hickory colored orbs narrowing as she recalled the events of the past few, very busy days, since her inauguration to the title of Godaime Hokage.

Yes. Gai's student had had the cells in his left arm and leg regenerated, restoring the limbs to their prior working order, after being crushed by a sand jutsu. He was supposed to be recovering for a few days, until he could be released from the hospital's care and, hopefully, lead a normal, shinobi life.

Yes. Tsunade remembered the fear in his wide, black eyes-

"Go check the bathroom. Training field. Trash compactor. I'm not holding your friend against his will anywhere. He's probably swinging himself around on those crutches. I tell you, I never saw anyone so happy just to be able to mo-"

Tsunade turned around, realizing she had lost her audience. Naruto was no where to be seen.

She blew some of the straw colored hair out of her eyes with her bottom lip. Kitsune brat. She wondered how long it would take for Jiraiya to have him spying in the women's bath house, sketching whatever he saw.

She would hand it to the old hermit. For being a jerk, an overbearing nimbskull, and an all-out pervert, he could draw what he saw excellent. While his readings may have been perverse, she could hardly believe the anatomical likeliness they held to the real human body. It was more of a shame he couldn't write anatomy books for young medic nin, instead of depraved fairy tales for old men with no sex lives.

Well, she sighed, staring at the empty space where Naruto had been standing. That was Jiraiya. Always debauching something and finding some way to deviate as far as humanly possible from normal activity.

Just what he needed. An apprentice.

"TSUNADE-SAMA!"

Oh joy. It must be 'Annoy The Hokage' Day. Why hadn't she got the memo?

A panting, sweating stack of muscles crammed into a green, form fitting jumpsuit skidded down the hallway, leg warmers flashing as two pairs of eyes spotted her and the form once more barreled down towards her, followed by a smaller presence.

Gai stopped directly in front of the woman, eyes wide in panic. His knees shook in a Charleston fashion as he clenched both hands into claw shapes and held them up imploringly, mouth parted open in beseeching.

"MY ADORABLE, PRECIOUS PRODIGY IS MISSING!", the man bawled at what must have been the top of his lungs. Tsunade winced, turning away from the tearing eyes of the pathetic excuse for a normal human male.

"I told the Uzumaki brat already. Check the bathrooms or the training field. He's somewhere around here." she reminded him, noting the small girl behind the towering green-clothed figure. That must be the "Geyi Mayo's girlfriend". Tsunade had seen Lee give her a good smack on the lips right before his surgery. She had pointed this out to Shizune, and the two had splurged on two girly squeals at the sight, clasping their hands together and smiling, their feminine sides let loose for a romp at the spectacle.

That child had the greenest eyes she had ever seen. She half wanted to examine them and make sure it was only an abundance of green pigmentation and not something serious that colored the small kunoichi's irises

Excessive color in the eyes could be a sign of drug overuse. Tsunade blinked at the two as a warning flag flashed inside her mind.

"He's not anywhere." the child added authoritatively, her eyebrows beginning to knit together beneath her forehead. Tsunade tore herself away from her half-thought of deliberation, and looked at the girl with silent question.

"He wasn't in his room, and I searched every room in this hospital, and outside, too. He's not here. I would have sensed his chakra signature. I know it like the back of my hand."

Tsunade didn't doubt her for a second. There was a Machiavellian glare in the olive eyes that suggested artful guiling came naturally to the child. Why, she hadn't quite seen eyes like that since-

Tsunade shooed the thought, reprimanding herself for such assumptions. Not every pair of calculating eyes belonged to a Yakushi or an overly self-confident snake Sannin.

Oh, dammit. That Lee kid wasn't supposed to get twenty feet from the front doors of the hospital! Great. Knowing him, he was probably going off and doing something dangerous and excessively stressing on his still-mending limbs. From what she had gathered about the teen, he hardly ever listened to medical opinions.

"Do you have any idea where he'd run off to?" she asked both of them, thinking herself where she might disappear off to if she were an over-joyful student of the Village Youthful Whore.

The liver haired girl shook her head in a negative gesture, folding her hands over one another un easily.

"Naruto was looking for him, too. He sent a Kage Bunshin around before he left on the mission to recover the Uchiha. You know, the angsty prick one?"

Tsunade kept her eyes on the girl. There was something- strangely familiar in her. Something sitting on the tip of her tongue that she couldn't quite recognize. Something- grim. Foreboding, if you may.

In his sleep, Neko-Chan winced, and began repressing his chakra signature to nearly undetectable. He could feel someone staring right through his Rian, staring directly at him. Without rumpling his mocha-colored coat, he returned to the slumber he had barely left, his chakra concealed, presence masked under a simple henge.

Kind of funny how a jutsu first graders could perform could manipulate a deadly existence to exist right underneath an entire village's noses.

Tsunade's almond eyes blinked closed. This could be serious. God. That stupid Lee kid. Gai had really done wonders on this one.

"All right. Where's his room in the Outpatient wing?"

* * *

Gai ripped the curtain that separated Lee's space with that of the half dozen other recoverees lined up in the oblong room. A hospital bed with and a table stared back from the blank, empty space. A careless lump could clearly be seen beneath the rumpled, stained blanket.

"He's smart. Had me fooled for hours." Gai said wistfully, lifting aside the mustard colored hospital blanket. A pillow and a wad of socks, sandals, and what looked like every cloth possession Lee owned was piled into a body shaped heap beneath the cheap cotton cover. It was quite evident that Lee had used the decoy of himself to distract the nurses, his girlfriend, and even his sensei into believing he was sleeping off the effects of the anesthesia.

Tsunade could have laughed, but the realization that Konoha's hospital was as stupid as to not realize a lump of clothing was not a patient recovering from a critical surgery made her about want to go slam a few officials of this infirmary's heads together. With her chakra-powered strength, of course.

Glancing around the six foot area, she blinked and set her eyes on the white, kanji-inscribed bottle on the imitation-wood table beside the wrinkled sheets of the bed.

"He must be pretty confused, too." she said, not motioning to the bottle. "He must have mistook my sake for his medicine. Look."

Gai instantly yelled at the top of his lungs, making Tsunade startle as the man screamed. He kept yelling for about a few seconds, his eyes wide. His student just stared at the off-white bottle, and then at her sensei.

Gai finally shut his mouth, and began fretting as he stood, staring at the bottle and shaking.

"This is bad." he said, hunching his shoulders up to his ears.

Tsunade looked questioningly at the jounin. His student got a hold of alcohol. Big whoop. It wasn't like he was going to kill himself with it or anything.

"Lee has some, complications with sake."

Gai sounded like a nervous therapist. Tsunade blinked at him, before placing one hand on her hip and cocking her head sideways at Gai.

"Alright. You'd better tell me what these 'complications' are." she said, reluctantly admitting that there might be some reason that Rock Lee couldn't ingest fermented rice wine.

Gai gulped, and began poking his fingers in a Hyuuga Hinata fashion, an anxious aura radiating off him.

"Rian wasn't part of the cell then." he began, his knees knocking against each other.

Rian listened with rapt attention. What had happened? Curiosity began building as she titled her head sideways at her teacher.

Gai swallowed again, as Tsunade waited for his explanation, fist knotted on her hip, head cocked at the man.

"I took my team out to eat in celebration of Lee's quick aquireation of Ura Renge skills."

His mind flashed images of Lee and Tenten fighting over the last pickled egg, Neji sipping his soda morosely, slapping ryou onto the table for the inexpensive bill.

"Lee mistook my sake for his water. He drank about a shot glass full, before I confiscated the alcohol from him. But, by than it was too late."

Tsunade's eyebrow arched up. Beside Gai, his student looked up at her sensei, thinking he was fooling around with her.

"When I came to.. The restaurant was in smithereens."

Rian blinked. What? Tsunade nodded, realizing what had occurred. Text book condition, as she knew.

"Lee was running around, trashing everything he saw. He was spinning like a top, striking and running into things. He punched Neji clear across the building."

Gai remembered staring in astonishment at the skeletal remains of the restaurant, Neji chasing after his teammate, who was no more than a flash of green and white, yelling and slamming into things, Tenten cowering behind an overturned chair, screaming patrons of the establishment fleeing out the opening where Lee had knocked the front doors from their brackets, leaving them hanging from their hinges.

"I couldn't even restrain him." he said absently.

Tsunade's eyes widened, her mouth hanging open.

"You couldn't even hold him down?" she repeated, astonished. A kid with that much strength in one sip? Good Lord. This boy really could be dangerous!

Gai finally turned to look at her. "Well, I couldn't properly keep him in one place without harming him. And I couldn't very well harm my adorable student." Tsunade saw him begin his Good Guy pose, but refrain, and slump at the waist dejectedly, arms hanging in front of him, black hair like a curtain around his face.

She sighed, hunching her shoulders up unladylike. Rian was hurriedly looking from Tsunade to Gai, eyes wide with shock and fright. What had Lee done now? Alcohol made him crazy? What was going on?

"Lee, my loveable young charge, is consequentially a natural student of Suiken." Gai said, nodding affirmatively.

"Drunken Fist." Tsunade repeated, shaking her head. Wonderful. Just what they needed. Gai's 'loveable prodigy' in a drunken rage, destroying the village.

She let a loud sigh escape her throat. Sometimes it sucked to be Hokage.

"Alright. I can send some Black Ops to search for him, if he really is that much of a threat. But, if either of you have any idea where he might have gone.."

Gai exhaled loudly, slumping as though he wished to simply disappear inside his flak jacket. The Green Beast turned to the spot where his student had been concernedly processing the current dilemma her teammate had wriggled his way into.

"Well, Rian, I don't suppose, being his teammate, you would-"

Gai's eyes alighted upon the empty space his pupil had resided moments ago. Rian tore around the corner of the main hallway, before bursting out the double doors of the front entrance into the light of the balmy June afternoon.

* * *

"I'M NOT DRUNK!"

Lee's foot flew up erratically, leg warmer just a flash of orange as the pile-driving kick drove straight towards the pale, white face of the apparent enemy.

Kimimaro dodged, nimbly sliding past the jumpy attack, spinning around to face the boy as he resumed a shaky battle stance.

A discarded white bottle, it's contents drank in less than two gulps, clacked against the Kayuga's sandal. Lee made a few grunting noises under his breath, eyes crossing, arms moving unpredictably. The entire world was spinning before Lee's onyx eyes, colors waning and bleeding together, blurry forms separating from five and returning to one- Fireworks exploded in his head, utter confusion and what must have been mild insanity initiating control as he smacked his lips, sweet rice flavoring still coated over the flesh.

"I'M UNDERAGE!" he screamed, his voice raspy as his eyes tried to distinguish if there were six Kimimaros or one. He took a chance, leaping angularly at the blurred form, yelling at the top of his lungs.

The bone Svengali side-stepped gracefully, catching Lee's flying limbs in blocks, trying to anticipate where the next flying kick or fist would come flying in the direction of.

Lee's muscled body rippled as he pored all of his stupored, mindless rage into the full-on attack, slamming a flurry of beatings onto the bone-edged limbs.

"CHILDREN CAN'T DRINK SAKE! 'SNOT LEGAL!" he affirmed, his voice slurring as he punched Kimimaro behind his back. His fingers knit through the tendrils of albino-white hair, which he ripped as he fought to regain balance in the ankle-deep, emerald green grass. The sunlight seemed blinding in intensity, glaring down across the open field they were engaged on with dazzling heat, seeming to bake the very dirt they tread on. A path of trampled turf marked where Lee had first laid drunken siege on the only remaining Kayuga, ripped patches of the low foliage scattering like confetti as flying feet tore them from their roots.

The white-haired teen leapt backwards, as Lee roared triumphantly and launched another barrage of light-speed taijutsu onto the unfeeling barricade of Kimimaro's quick blocks.

What kind of game was this? The kid was sloshed, yes. His attacks were unconnected and erratic, unpredictable in their pattern. And he was fast, too. Kimimaro was actually being challenged to even keep up with the fuselage of monstrously strong counter hits, timed uncontrollably to the point where he might as well be fighting in a darkened room with a blindfold over his eyes.

Yes, he was holding his own, but it was getting increasingly hard to do so. The boy's punches were not strong enough to snap Kimimaro's natural weapons. Had they been, Kimimaro would have been overwhelmed a long while ago. But Lee's inebriated onslaught was just beating around the proverbial bush.

They were just toying with each other now, batting the other around in an attempt to find the other's weakness, so that they could exploit it and use it to win. But, Lee wasn't moderate enough to be looking for Kimimaro's weak points. He was simply beating the offender, in his alcohol-smashed mind.

Kimimaro had never been a drinker, but he knew that alcohol clouded the senses. The hallucinogenic affect of the fermented rice created psychedelic illusions, blurred the vision, and offset the hearing, to the point where distinguishing an enemy's location would be close to impossible.

And with this, Kimimaro had found the key to defeating the "Azure Beast of Konohagakure", as the boy had so grandiosely titled himself.

The bone manipulator brainwashed himself into believing that he was actually in need of the challenge. Orochimaru's newer "maggots", Sound Nin in training, usually weren't much of a challenge, or the dummies, made with cloth and stuffed with straw. He needed to taste something new, after so long a time sitting, medications flowing through an intravenous line as he waited out his demise, playing death with every breath he took, hocking bitter sheets of blood into stained rags as Kabuto nursed him hydration through a plastic tube inserted in a thick, red vein that lay stabbed beneath his ash skin.

He had wanted, no, required, a brand new trial. And this fight was crisp with fresh promise, reaffirmation of his skill at the one thing he had been appreciated for. Fighting. Killing.

Genocide wasn't a random occurrence. It was the Kayuga nindo. Kimimaro's only way of life before Orochimaru had found him.

Lee's fist grazed his cheek. The flesh of Kimimaro's arm began to crawl with a insect's feet sensation, as a white cylinder began rising from perpendicular to his shoulder.

Polished and glinting sharply, he snatched the prepared ulna, fingers tippeting over the instantaneously knitting skin, the alien sensation making a shiver shudder up his very spine.

Whipping the sharpened, strong as steel bone in front of him, he brandished the homemade sword at the now-recovering, partially retreated Lee, who was mumbling, his slammed mind trying to stay one step ahead of Kimimaro's plan.

Kimimaro gathered himself, standing straight as a full grown fir tree, the ones that he had climbed in as a child, during his leisurely time he had been allotted to after his grueling training, until he was commanded back to his cell.

He had hated being a prisoner.

Fingers of wind threaded themselves leisurely through the meadow, making the Nile colored grass sweep in waves. The lapis blue sky hung emptily above the two figures, stretching to the farthest limits of a child's stifled imagination.

Not. So. Long. Ago.

"Tsubaki Mai." Kimimaro sliced the silence of the instant like a knife.

The moment exploded with motion. Kimimaro's arm began stabbing faster then the blink of an eye at the green-clad, intoxicated boy, who's raven, raven, raven, into the darkest depths behind prison bars eyes widened, a target for the razor-sharp point of the sword.

Kimimaro hated the dark. It was dark behind the bars of his cell, it was dark the flame-licked night of the Kayuga slaughter, it was dark underneath the blindfold and dark in that hospital room, Kabuto's knife-blade smiles behind glasses that glinted off of the small light emitting from the monitor that beeped the time of Kimimaro's heart, a steady, steady rhythm, oh Dear God, let's get this heart beating, faster, faster, faster. Anything, anything to change the tune. Bump up the tempo, strike up the band, the conductor is back in here. Come, congregation of morbid souls, let's sing it like you mean it. The repetitive metaphor of pulsing of life, metallic and detached. Lonely.

Heart. Beat. Heart. Beat.

Anything to change the beat of his heart.

Lee and Kimimaro were no more then twin flashes, streaks of hunter and hoar, chartreuse and silvery.

Kimimaro's blade flicked in a peacock fan fashion, slashing, stabbing, poking at the flash of forest and black streak atop it. Lee, in turn, used his uncanny, brutal speed to dodge every stab of the blade.

This inhuman display of Mach speed continued, until one of them began to feel weak from the speed. Nauseousness began to drip over him. He couldn't keep up with the Lotus kid's attacks much longer, he felt behind the mask of emotionless stone he kept his face locked to permanently.

Kimimaro swept the blade in an 'X' shape, breaking the cycle of uncannily rapid stabs and misses. Lee, beginning to sober, leapt backwards to avoid the slashes.

Dammit! He couldn't land a single hit on this kid! Lee slammed forward, fist drawn to slam Kimimaro backward. The Kayuga responded to the challenge by fighting Lee backwards, slashing his bone sword at the green-clothed chest.Yes. An open spot, where gravity would pull the black-haired taijutsu proficient and his drunken body could not react in time to miss the swipe.

Kimimaro slashed the sword in the arc that would end the battle. A final hit. There was no way this one could possibly miss.

This is it…

The blade cut through the electrifying atmosphere, slicing the noxious clouds of evaporated sweat and the sweet stench of alcohol. As anticipated, Lee bent forward to recover from his latest punch, before he could jerk his intoxicated body backwards, and gather the power for yet another punch. Unfortunately, the razor thin sword edge would arc directly across his diaphragm, slicing the soft underbelly skin.

He'd say that, with the chakra he was summoning into the blade, the sword would slice the annoying, one-over-eight kid right in two.

Lee's eyes shot wide, as his inebriated mind suddenly grasped the situation. Anticipating the pull on his body, there was no way he could regain his balance in time to keep himself out of the blade's path.

This was better then Kimimaro had thought. He flicked his hand with the grace of an expert fencer, allowing his jade eyes to trace the path that the bone-thin saber would follow.

The moment narrowed to the spaces between heartbeats. Lee's feet tangled in themselves, as his mouth flew open. He twisted to the side as he fell, trying a useless last resort. But, his doom was inevitable. And coming now.

Lee wrenched his eyes shut, waiting for the evening cut. His feelings could not possibly be described. His life was going to end in just a few moments. He didn't have time to think of anything other then his own fate. And how soon it was coming. Blood gushed in his ears, crimson flashing across his eyelids as gravity tugged his body downward.

The instant before his life ended, all he could hear were his final heartbeats thumping in his chest.

The blade slashed forward, white and prominent as it connected with the skin-tight green fabric clinging with sweat to a visible rib cage.

Thump. Thump. Thu-

Blood splattered across Lee's face, the sticky, metal smell overwhelming his sense of smell, taste. The warmth established itself, burning in it's intensity. Lee knew it must be his. He'd been cut in half. There was nothing from his chest.. Chest do- Oh, god. His heart would be slowing down in a few moments. He had been killed. He, Rock Lee, The Lotus of Konoha. Shinobi. Gai-sensei. His last conscious thoughts. The dark light beckoned his detaching body . He was going. Gone..

So why was he still counting heartbeats?

One inky eye popped open, fear flowing up his thin, gangly body. St-sti- still alive? But wasn't he…

His sight opened slowly, to reveal his two bandaged arms, still in a blocking posture. The white stripes of cotton were sprayed with brick colored droplets of life. What he could still comprehend as his stomach lurched.

It was his. It was his, and he would be saying farewell to life, living, love in just a second. A millisecond. He prepared himself to reach for the hands of some sort of forever after. Anything would be better then this inevitable waiting. Any, just any moment soon, so soon. Oh, Kami. He was actually going to die.

There was no denying the truth, as it rushed to meet him, in what must be a half a second's wait. It felt like a suffering, horrific wait for what would now seem merciful, even if it was a final blow in a fight on a wind-whipped field.

And yet-

Kimimaro winced as a searing pain slammed across his cheekbone, his jaw cracking as blue flooded his right eye. Blood poured out of his open mouth as his teeth shattered against the steel-solid weight. The weight against his face shifted the smallest bit, and another smash slammed against his unguarded chest.

Rian clenched a hand around Kimimaro's facial features, contorting the stunned expression as she once more, hanging off of the Kayuga's body, threw her weight around his unclothed body, and swung around to slam a kick into the small of his back.

The sword dropped from Kimimaro's hand, halting the progress of the white, slicing blade, still crackling with chakra. It fell lifelessly to the ground, sizzling as it bounced through the chopped, unkept meadow marram. Lee's body shot of it's own accord, catching him, stumbling, across the emerald grass not torn up by sandals and bones. Catching his balance drunkenly, he slipped, tripping and falling directly on his face. Damask green grass, wet with morning dew filled his vision, the smell of fresh, kicked-up earth flooding his nostrils. He clenched his pinging head, feeling explosions booming as his stupor began to recede.

Vision blurred, he pushed himself shakily up onto one arm, feeling the energy from the blur of motion that was Kimimaro and Lee's apparent savior. His trembling head raised, sable irises trying desperately to see through the fog of his aching skull. Feeling his pulse thump against his palm, blood pulsing against the solid side of his skull. Things like that, fingers knitted through the trampled, saw-like grass, were slowly helping bring him to from the alcohol-induced rage he had battled from the perch of.

Wait. Just- just, make the sky go back up and the field stop spinning for a minute or two or three, because- because.. Dammit! Why couldn't he th- th-th- thinkkkk? Ouch, ouch, ouch. Why, why did his head.. Head- Drunk! He had been drunk! … Oh, no! Gai-sensei was going to murder him!

He threw his head up, feeling bile burn at his throat lining. He was in a fight! Where was.. The oppone-

Kimimaro threw his elbow around, barely missing Rian's back as she dropped to the ground on her hands. Instantly, she pushed herself back around, twisting her body heinously, a searing pain erupting in her abdominal wall. She balanced herself, palms supporting her in the slick, razor-thin grass that reached up to her bare elbows, before rocketing back up to slam the charging Kimimaro directly in his unclothed groin.

The remaining bone manipulator slid backwards, balancing on three limbs as he coasted backwards, farther out into the literally forest of swaying green.

Lee pushed himself up more, smacking the taste of alcohol over his lips. Where was he? Why had he gotten into a fight? How had he even gotten his hands on a bottle of sake, anyway?

He covered one ear with his free hand and winced, as thundering footsteps slammed towards him, echoing in all directions and making their direction of approach uncomprehendable.

Smoke-colored stalks bled together against the cerulean and sage landscape before him, swaying tufts of grass like waves of an extremely shallow ocean. The grass crunched as two spots of bright, radiant blue appeared before his waning vision, cycling rapidly before connected solidly to what he thought must have been the ground.

He looked up, radiating confusion in his pinched face as he struggled to concentrate. Stalks of the turf tickled at his upper lip, making him wiggle his nose to rid himself of the irritating sensation on his sweaty lip.

Rian flipped across the ground, throwing her legs over her head with expert coordination, before landing directly on her feet, ankles absorbing the shock of the thud of her body weight against the hard ground. She stood, hands behind her back, scowling with a controlled blaze of rage contained, flickering, in her olive eyes.

Kimimaro stood to his full height, his expressionless face displaying no surprise. His green eyes followed up the girl's body as a wave of wind sent her oversized shirt billowing and snapping at her obviously emaciated waist.

She was sickly in appearance, small, and paper-thin. She must be the Blue Lotus, or whatever he had said he was's teammate, or friend. Maybe his girlfriend. He didn't know, or care.

Lee, arms behind him as he supported his upper body, could feel his eyes popped wide as he stared at his teammate's back. Another whip of wind sent grass waving at his sides, tapping at the creases of his jumpsuit. How on earth had Rian found him?

"Rian-San.." he whispered to her, silently imploring her for explanation. Did she have him micro-chipped? Tagged? Was he linked to a satellite by a device in his legwarmers? Had Gai-sensei sent her to retrieve him?

Or maybe, she had just come looking for him.

He watched her hands slip into the shruiken pouch bound at her beltline, only to reappear armed with the claws of her Shinobi art, pronged, serrated ends glinting maliciously in the bright, suddenly ominous sun above as they flashed at her sides, before being crossed before her face in her feral, challenging attack stance.

"Lee, are you alright?" her voice commanded, sounding stable and even, even in the midst of the challenging miasma that Lee suddenly found making a breath catch in his throat. He swallowed the lump, his eyes still locked to the curve of his female team member's back.

"I… I think so." he whispered, gasping the sweet, cool air into his suddenly burning lungs. He hadn't meant to whisper. Something, was… making it a bit hard to talk-

Lee felt a sudden bloom of feeling in him, and he clenched a hand over his heart as the sensation manifested itself in a chest pain. He looked at his sweat-soaked chest, at the heaving beginnings of a six-pack on his abdomen, before looking back up at Rian, his eyes widened with confusion.

He knew that feeling.

Kimimaro sighed, slumping his shoulders and closing his eyes to the knife blades that jutted with medieval intention from a pair of brass knuckles clenched between the small child's fingers.

"I suppose, that you want to repay the damage I've done to your 'revived student', or whatever he calls himself." he noted, nodding dolefully as his skin began to crawl with the sensation of weapons, ready to be thrown from beneath his skin, preparing themselves at his silent, commanding call to arms.

"Shinobi way." Rian said, grinning Machiavellianlly. She swept one hand behind her back, holding the other forward in Lee's summoning 'Bring it' stance.

Lee was frozen in place, his hands welded to the crushed grass beneath him, which was gradually warming with his spilt body heat, cold sweat dripping ominously over his overheated muscles as they throbbed, recovering from the excessive use.

"Rian!" he cried suddenly, the word setting his throat on fire. "Watch out! He uses bones as weapons!"

Rian paused as her weight shifted forward, processing Lee's plea. He sounded.. Desperate? Worried?

"Bones?" she said, smiling condescendingly. "It's not so hard to break bones when they're under the skin."

Rian didn't know what kind of screwed-up techniques this guy could do with _bones_, but by the tone of Lee's voice, they sounded more then a little dangerous.

Lee swallowed a foreshadowing lump in his throat, feeling a choking feeling clench his windpipe.

He had to get up and- Augh! His limbs laid out their insistence that he stay in one place and rest them. Dammit. The stitches on his leg stung as the surgical thread began to unknit itself from the skin. Pricks of pain tingled horrendously up his calf, through his thigh, cascading into a bowel-turning sensation in his torso, before sending his skull afire with a buzzing, murderous impression.

He stared worriedly at the unfolding fight, ignoring the synopses of pain sensors screaming throughout his body. His lip trembled, sending his scratched and dirt-crusted cheek aflame with the sensation. Black orbs locked to Rian, he tried to decipher why he was panicking so. Rian could handle herself. She was a strong, splendid shinobi. Another gust across the battleground sent Rian's brown bangs fluttering aside, shirt flapping at her thin waist. Her foot drew a circle in the dirt as she stood straight, cracking her shoulder blades in preparation for a set of grueling acrobatic feats Neko-Chan had made her practice, and practice, and practice until they were sandblasted into her memory.

Rian's lip curled as a familiar presence began settling into her senses. She felt the blending of her vision with his. She could feel the spine-tingling awareness as her hearing and smell became his as well.

Neko-Chan smirked, yellow eyes smiling prominently from his coffee colored face as he curled his tail to his shoulder. His ears flicked once, their signal that a temporary battle synergy net had been created between them.

Rian was a two man, taijutsu battling machine now.

Kimimaro charged forward, his expression betraying no feeling. Bones ejected from his skin, sabers of white from the pale, slight pink of his arms. He tucked the limbs at his side, his chest exploding as his rib cage jutted out, the bones sharpening to razor-sharp edges at Kimimaro's silent command.

The Kayuga shot forward, black sandals barely touching the ground as he flew at the small, claw-armed girl who was smirking at him the smallest bit from behind the metal knives attached to her knuckles.

Now! Rian's lip curved to reveal her right incisor, and ran straight at the approaching form. This was where her only nascent knowledge of chakra control would be tested. Neko-Chan had been urging her to train her chakra mastery since witnessing Lee's grueling defeat in the Preliminaries of the Journeyman Ninja exam. There was proof that Taijutsu wasn't always enough to win a battle, and Rian was not only gifted with her own pulsing energy, but Neko-Chan could lend some of his chakra to her, if the need arose. The temporary symbiosis that could link them in a battle allowed Neko-Chan access to her chakra reserves, making it possible for him to summon his energy into her power storage in the event of an emergency. But, he refrained from passing his energy into her, or even telling her that chakra transferring between the two was possible. Instead, he made her train day after day on increasing her barely intermediate chakra control. This work had helped her exponentially in her daily training against the chakra-implanted clones Neko-Chan had her fight against every day. Rian's familiarity with chakra molding before had been limited to a few genin-level jutsus, basic concealment techniques, and henge for tracking an enemy unnoticed.

But now, her knowledge had expanded into being able to drive a large amount of her natural power into her hands, and up her blades, making a normal swipe of the knives against an unguarded chest inertly more dangerous, with the crackling energy making the blades glow with white-hot heat, which could inflict agonizing burns when placed against bare skin, or shock impaled organs into shutting themselves down.

Thundering forward, Rian sent electrical pulses of chakra into the serrated ends of the knifes, the grip that held the weapons in place humming against her palms as they vibrated with energy.

They met barely twenty feet from their starting places, thundering towards each other with the intent to have blood splattering across the grass.

Kimimaro's bone laced arms slammed together in what would have been a morbid death embrace as he misanticipated Rian beginning her attacks directly in front of his chest.

Rian, however, skidded between Kimimaro's legs in a juvenile fashion, before zooming around and slamming a sweeping kick to the back of Kimimaro's knees.

This was the wonder of Sanken. The moves didn't require inhuman strength or much familiarity with chakra. The art only called for inhuman, animalistic flexibility and speed.

Acquiring the feline level of equilibrium needed for the feats of the taijutsu endeavor was not a task easily done. Rian had spent years training, practicing every aspect of the catlike skills required to perform the aerial stunts and liquefying herself around stabs and punches. Training to slide underneath an opponent's guard, to deliver a well-placed stab to a chest or abdomen as they realized the girl had disappeared from the path of their attack.

The art was controversial, scorned on by Kage and sensei, but at the core, Blood Fist taijutsu was just as good as any other battle skill. And, it took an amazing amount of concentration and talent to even come close to being proficient at.

Talent Neko-Chan had seen sitting on a log in the middle of a forest, tears running lines in the dirt-streaked face.

Kimimaro buckled at the knees, falling forward as the speed of the attack slipped behind his guard. His jade-colored eyes widened as he twisted, somersaulting and hopping to his feet.

Darn. The girl was fast. The bones spiked out from the skin of his arm made a tapping noise as Rian's hand gripped one of the calcium-strengthened dagger shapes and whipped herself around it, like a gymnastic bar, landing a kick directly in Kimimaro's face.

Rian could have been built for Sanken. She was small, which made slipping between attacks fairly simple. Her size also increased her speed, making it more difficult for the enemy to actually touch her with anything but a long-range attack. And Rian was quite skilled at evading long-range attacks.

Her small size also had an undesirable hitch. Rian throwing her entire weight behind a punch didn't make it any stronger. Her body mass was equal to that of a healthy third grader, even if she was thirteen. Neko-Chan had been watching what his container ate for some time, manipulating her unusually fast metabolism to shave off any excess weight that might hold them down in battle. One could clearly see Rian's ribs jutting from her sides if she wore anything besides the thick T-shirt that hid her anorexic secret. Neko-Chan had always demanded she vomit her entire meal back up if one bite more than her allotted diet went down her throat, even when she before she was old enough to enroll in Konoha's Academy.

Rian had never thought there was anything wrong with it. She had just listened to the feline's promises that it would make her faster and lighter, and much, much harder for an opponent to even try to battle against.

This lack of nourishment may have made Rian weaker strength wise, but her learning to fight and work through the hunger pains was immeasurably valuable, Neko-Chan had taught. He was turning her into a lean, mean, fighting machine, as the saying went.

So, Rian may not have been strong, or too skilled at the art of chakra mastery, the keys to being an adept ninja, but her speed and ability to keep her head in a skirmish substituted those skills pretty well, Neko-Chan thought.

And the fact that her willingness to mould herself to the skill's standards had made her flexible and her balance nearly unthrowable made up a big part of her chances of winning any battle she found herself in.

Rian pushed off of Kimimaro's face, flipping backwards and landing crouched in the grass. Kimimaro spit out a mouthful of blood. Her first kick had shattered his back teeth. A molar had been knocked from it's roots, and his incisor chipped from the sheer force of the entering kick. Blood was pouring from the severed, empty space in his jaw. He poked his tongue into the hole, putting harsh pressure on the stinging pinkness of his jaw to stop the smarting. A little ache like that wouldn't stop him from fighting back, of course. It was just a minor stinging, and wouldn't even bother him as the battle came to a finish.

It was time to end this annoying kiddie fight now.

Lee's heart was caught in his throat the entire barrage of attacks on both sides. His hands trembled, shaking the stalks of grass. His useless body was just sitting there on the ground, while Rian fought his battle for him.

Pain, electrical charges of aching, wrenched his arms. His legs were numb, as every sensor in his body cried for relief of the enormous pressure his inebriated attacks had entailed.

He couldn't move. Not even if he tried. He scowled at his own weakness, biting his lip as the metallic taste of his bitten tongue filled his mouth.

Maybe he shouldn't have even tried to catch up with the Recovery team. He had known, running to catch up with the rest of the genin, feeling the stitches in his leg loosening with every crash of his foot against the dust-covered, well traveled road, that he was weak. When, and if, he reached the rest of the group, would he be able to fight if they encountered resistance on Sasuke's part?

He probably would just be a burden, a nuisance.

He had felt like sobbing aloud as he rocketed at top speed to catch up, his legs throbbing with strain.

But each time he doubted his ability, and came instants from turning around and fleeing home, he pictured the heart-broken look on his cherry blossom's face as she watched Naruto, grinning idiotically, lead his Hokage-appointed team down the worn path away from Konohagakure, in search of her lover.

Each time he pictured her flushed face, cheeks tinted with tears, it fueled him to run a little faster, smile a little wider. Sakura was still a driving force in his life, even if there was an undercurrent of uncertainty about their relationship. In spite of his adamant, unmoving feelings for the young girl, he could feel a sensation of doubt festering inside him.

He was beginning to, even if he wouldn't admit it to his own face, retreat to the belief that, maybe, Sakura wasn't going to return his affections.

But, there was always the defying nag that perhaps he was giving up too easily. Since Gai-sensei had begun tutoring Lee in The Ways of The Green Beast, as Tenten had called her sensei and team member's sometimes outright ridiculous behaviors, the major points that Gai had drilled into him were to believe in oneself, and to never, ever give up on anything, whether it was learning a new taijutsu move or a downright mundane mission.

The self-confidence had "Gai's handiwork" written all over it. Lee had never believed in himself as a child, and he supposed old habits died hard. He still had doubts about his strength, which he believed the most important issue in his life currently. He seriously distrusted his abilities in Taijutsu to a degree never before pulverized. Gaara's fight had only hit the point on the head. Sometimes, physical techniques weren't enough to win a battle.

Or even adequately protect oneself, his swollen joints reminded him.

Tilting his head to face the blinding sun above, Lee moaned in pain. His limbs throbbed, screaming for any kind of relief from the mere sensation of the green fabric soaked to them.

He had to get back up. His teammate was fighting for him. He couldn't just sit here, recovering from his own injuries while Rian might need his he-

That was it!

Rolling on to his stomach, Lee dragged his body to face the small, white bottle. He reached out, fingertips extended, supporting his throbbing body with the opposite elbow. His eye twitched as he forced with everything in him to keep from screaming out loud at the rippling shock waves of pain smashing over him, like break waves at a beach.

Just, reach- A little more.. A little more..

Lee scowled, before throwing himself forward idiotically, landing face first in the dirt.

But, he thought, as the sweet smell of earth overwhelmed his nostrils, the grainy dirt filling his nasal cavities, his fingers closed around the white, high-necked, smooth surface of the cream-colored bottle.

He let a smile spread across his cracked lips, even as his legs protested his position with cries of pain.

Shoving himself into a sitting position, Lee cracked his back and poked the dry lip of the bottle into his mouth.

Oh please, please let there be just a drop left. This sake was the only possible way he could force his body back up and fighting. He knew that digesting even a drop of the rice wine could end the battle, saving them both. But he also acknowledged that he had no control over himself when he was drunk. He could end up injuring himself to the point of permanent damage, or even-

He refused to think of that, as his tongue searched the inside of the narrow bottle for even a drop of the alcohol. That was all it would take to have him unleashing battalions of Taijutsu on the bone manipulating bastard Rian was holding off.

Holding off. Rian was holding an enemy at bay for him.

Wrenching his eyes shut, Lee tilted his head backwards as far as it would go without sending him flat on his back. He sucked at the cold ceramic of the bottle vigorously, desperation fueling him.

Dammit! Just one drop-

Rian twisted out of the way as a bone-spiked arm crashed into the spot where she had been standing, The Kayuga's fist imbedding itself into the grass-patched ground. She placed a firm hand on Kimimaro's shoulder blades and flipped over his back, before landing on the ripped landscape and smashing a kick into her albino opponent's ribcage.

This was nuts. She couldn't keep pussyfooting around this enemy. He was too fast for her to even touch. Her energy was being strained into getting out of the way of the bones jutting from his skin. Never mind trying to land a hit on his body, between the keratin armor he'd built around his body.

She needed a plan. Now.

"We can't even touch him. How can we possibly hope to get him down long enough to get out of here, let alone dragging Drunk Ass over there away from the battle?". Rian threw the question at her neko companion as she somersaulted on her side to avoid a punch that whistled past her shoulder.

Think about it.

Rian rolled her eyes as she swiped her weapon at Kimimaro's face, her feet twisting to shift her from Kimimaro's sing-song punch.

"Great, Neko-Chan. That really hel-" Rian froze in mid sentence, an idea's roots beginning to settle in her mind.

Without bothering to explain to Neko-Chan what she was doing, she jumped directly in front of Kimimaro, who was recovering from his last attack.

As she had done before, Rian clapped one hand over the Kayuga's shoulder and jumped, using the grip of the bone ejected from his skin to force herself up, over his head.

Halfway at the climax of her leap, Rian twisted to face Kimimaro, who's bottle green eyes watched her with expressionless curiosity as he tried to anticipate her next attack.

Rian's hands flew to each other, as she moulded her chakra to release a jutsu. Her fingers formed to the Ne seal, hands clasped together in front of her chest.

Instantly, leaves began to cascade up, swirling and surrounding the two as Rian's chakra formed into the beginning signs of a genjutsu.

Rian caught herself as gravity pulled her ground wards, landing gracefully on crouched knees and one hand as the genjutsu's visible traces began to disappear, falling back to earth in a circular shape around the stock-still Kimimaro.

She smirked, whipping back into her battle stance in a trumping gesture. Neko-Chan smiled.

The genjutsu Rian used was a genin level jutsu, but she had managed to catch their enemy off guard, leaving even this minor chakra-requiring attack his downfall.

Kimimaro began to shake as the horrific visions began to appear before his eyes. The effects of the genjutsu were to paralyze the antagonist of the hex with lifelike visualizations of the victim's worst fears.

Rian smiled, and stood, eagerly awaiting the show with her feline. Paralyzing fear, and the insane pleadings of a horror-stricken victim had always been morbidly entertaining.

Kimimaro stood completely stiff, his only movements being the rise and fall of his bare chest and the trembling spasms that shook his frame as he tried to distinguish whether what he was seeing was real or not. Trying to hear himself over the desperate firings of his thought synopses.

Before him lay a corpse, riddled with shruiken and gaping gashes where rotting intestines could be seen poking out. Flies buzzed in a thick blanket around the limbless body, the stench of death filling Kimimaro's throat and making him want to gag with the intensity of the scent.

The face, still intact, even as the vermin chewed at the rotting skin, was devoid of eyes, it's mouth hanging open brokenly. A drape of black hair lay stretched from the severed scalp, red and still drenched in blood.

O-O-Oro-Or-R-R-Rochimaru-S-s-sama…

A scream issued from Kimimaro's throat, the intensity of his cry burning the lining of his esophagus. Unfelt tears flooded his eyes, blurring the cadaverous vision as he fell to his knees in the dark dirt, bowing his body over the fetid remains of his master.

Neko-Chan grinned, his fangs shining in the darkness of Rian's mind. Rian's face mimicked the neko's expression, lips curled up masochistically to reveal her incisors as she smiled, evil intention glaring at the upturned, tinted cheeks.

Kimimaro writhed, his hands balled into fists, the bones on his back quivering as he trembled, the affects of the genjutsu starting to wear off.

Alright. Finish him.

"Oh, right." So consumed had they been in observing Kimimaro's half crazed reaction to the hallucinogenic spell, she'd almost forgotten to end what Lee had started.

She strode up to the still stunned Kimimaro, stopping directly before his wide-eyed face, curtained by albino strands of messy, Kayuga-Clan-styled tresses.

Rian whipped her Sanken knives out, feeling the power over her opponent flood her arms, superheating her entire body with adrenaline.

She would make this kill fast. Lee still needed to be dragged home. Speaking of which, where was Lee?-

A long, ear drum shattering screech answered her question.

Rian spooked, startling to the side as a pile-driving force slid past her, like a first baseman sliding into home.

Lee's foot slammed into Kimimaro's face, kicking the Kayuga backwards. Lee hopped to his feet, his body a solid ripple of muscle as Kimimaro skidded backwards on his behind.

Lee swayed from side to side as he stood, his arms held angularly out in front of him in some sort of ignorant parody of the stance he usually used before going into battle.

"-hic- I ga-ga-go -hic- Got him! Rian-San! -hic-" he declared to her, his eyes crossing as his cheeks flushed a rosy fuchsia.

Rian, who had been blanching in the direction of her comrade's blush-colored face, turned to their opponent. Kimimaro had gotten his feet underneath him, and was standing at his full, now daunting height once again, his eyes narrowed at the challenging, troublesome kids who were making this day miserable for him.

Wonderful. Lee had knocked Kimimaro from the genjutsu. The idiot!

Rian shook her head, and turned to Lee, who was smiling childishly into the distance.

Keep your anger under control.

Rian commanded her twitching eye to stop throbbing, contenting herself with the only visible show of her anger being the pulsing vein on her forehead, which was covered by her protector, anyway.

"Lee.." she began, closing her eyes and tucking her shoulders up to her ears. "-You do realize that you just undid every inch of the work I just did while you were drunk out of your mind, don't you?"

Lee seemed to renotice Rian's existence, and turned his head to face her, smiling like a patient in an asylum.

His eyes shone as he recognized her, tilting his head adorably and poking his tongue out the corner of his mouth.

"Naaaw. Do-d-don't worry, Rian-San. I g-g-got it!"

Suddenly, Lee reached out and yanked Rian closer to him. Her arms were pinned to the front of his chest as he held her to him, smiling stupidly as she struggled against his grip.

"Lee! We don't have time for this!" she cried, trying to slam against his vice with her body, to loosen the hold he had around her upper back. It was no use. Lee's arms were as strong and as dense as steel beams.

She kicked at his knee, hoping to make him let go. She was now fighting a helpless drunk. Great. Why did Lee have to take that bottle of sake? Why couldn't she just have a normal teammate, who didn't wear spandex and drink underage to have another ace up his sleeve? Why did he even _follow_ the team and try to catch up? What was he trying to prove by almost getting himself murdered?

"You're right, Rian-Than!" he yelled, his voice waning. "There isn't any time to f-f-fondle with f-formalities!"

He gazed back down at his teammate as she continued without ceasing in her pathetic wriggling.

"Rian, I love you!"

Rian froze, and looked up at Lee's face as a wide grin spread over the majority of his lower face.

What did he say? L-love? Did he say that he _loved _her?

Rian gazed deep into his black eyes, which to her seemed like bottomless black holes filled with the clearest, and yet the most brackish water that had ever been looked in to.

She could feel his heart beating against her neck, a comforting rhythm, the tempo of the moment, as Lee gripped her the smallest bit tighter.

Rian wasn't sure a whisper of wind could have passed between the two, as Lee's eyes half-closed drunkenly, his sweet smile directed towards the girl he held in his arms.

No.

She leaned her head against his sweat-soaked chest, feeling the impulses of his touch against her sides.

That was just the sake talking. Rian could never love anybody. Only Neko-Chan.

But, did that mean nobody could love _Rian?_

Lee's thumb traced a circle in her shoulder blade as he stood, his body swaying back and forth, as though Rian's weight leaning on him was about to tip him backwards. And yet strangely, Lee had never felt stronger.

Rian felt his grip slack, but did not slide from his warm arms, the heat of his sweat damp against her dirt-streaked cheeks.

Letting her eyes close, she let the feelings churning in her torso expel up, making her spine tingle with intensity of the want, the desire to stay in the comforting embrace of Lee's vice-like arms.

How long had she hungered for this simple embrace? And how long had she lusted for the feelings buzzing inside of her to be released, humming like a swarm of wasps in her ears along with pulsing blood?

Rian had never felt more secure, or as safe as she did in that minute, hour, instant, forever- felt like eternity, however much time she spent wrapped in Lee's green-swathed arms, breathing the sweet smell of the boy she called her ally, losing herself in the feelings that had suddenly been uncovered, and made her heart flutter like butterfly wings against her scarred chest.

Her stomach turned, making her nauseous. She wanted to cough. She wanted to vomit. She wanted Neko-Chan to tell her what to do, because she didn't even know what she was feeling, let alone what to do. But mostly, she wanted Lee to hold her forever, always have the desire to draw her close and embrace her.

If this was love, Rian wanted to be loved forever.

But. It was simply the alcohol talking.

Rian grabbed at Lee's spandex, pulling him closer to her, turning her head sideways and letting the knives slip from her fingers, falling to the earth with an unheard pat, bouncing and hitting the ground twice, before rolling lifelessly and sitting inanimately, waiting expectantly, silently.

Rian didn't want the moment to end. She tried to relight the embers of the dying sensation, fluttering away like sakura blossoms on a gust of wind.

Lee didn't love her.

No one did.

Not even Neko-Chan.

Kimimaro's face didn't fold or crumple at the scene before him. He had no feelings on the subject of the sight before him, the drunken boy embracing the previously claw-armed girl.

Stupid emotions.

He needed no such desires.

The time had come to finish the annoying children blocking his way to Konohagakure.

"Tsubaki Mai: Dance of the Fern Seedlings." his authoritative voice rasped, nearly a growl in it's detached intensity as it bit the silence.

The ground exploded as spikes of white, smooth dagger-sharpened bones began jutting from the ground, spiking several feet into the air as they ejected from the dark earth.

Conducting his attack from within his mind, Kimimaro commanded the ground weapons towards the two teenagers with macabre intent, waiting in his usual silence for the bone spikes to rush towards them and complete the incommodious task he not too long ago had actually lusted for.

The challenge was gone. As of late, the battle was simply two against one. The fun and thrill had been sucked right out of it, because Lotus didn't want to play fair, and called his Bitch in to fight his battle for him.

The line of bone blades shot in a jagged, uneven line towards the pair, flinging dirt and tufts of choppy grass as the deafening roar of the line of cleaver-edged bayonets set their crosshairs on the entwined figures.

"And whadabout you?"

Rian poked her head up from where she'd been leaning against Lee's chest and nearly drowning in the flood of feelings from the broken levy of her emotions. She looked at his passive face, his silly, curved smile as it wavered drunkenly, dissipating and appearing on his face sporadically.

"What do you mean?" she asked, her concentration focused on him, instead of the appearance of the impaling attack not fifty feet from the two. She had been riveted on the unfolding sensations racking her from the inside, and the all-over tepid feeling of being embraced for the first time, without asphyxiating from one of her sensei's unpredictable bear hugs.

Lee smiled a little more, his bright teeth poking slightly through his upturned lips.

"I mean, do you feel the same way about me? Ur thumbody else?" he slurred, his vision water coloring the only focus of his attention into a blur of green and mouse colored brown.

Her facial expression quickly folded into one of confusion and doubt. She leaned her head back against the support of his rising and falling chest, staring at the green crease of Lee's jumpsuit's arm, and listened to the mantra of his breath, hoping it knew the correct answer to his question.

But, she wasn't supposed to love. Was love wanting to be held like this? Was it a fluttery feeling in your stomach when you imagined the person you love smiling? Was it trying to meditate in your lonely apartment and wishing that he was there to brighten the room with the joy that seemed to radiate off of his body? Was it talking to him in your normal way, but feeling tantalizingly scared of what his reaction would be to the words? Was it watching the muscles underneath his jumpsuit ripple as he punched at a log and tried to keep his balance on a healing leg? Was it being mesmerized by the words he said, the courage and will power, the determination he was the poster child for? Was that what love was?

"What's love again, Lee?" she asked, her voice innocent, a mere whisper into the fabric stretched over his taut arms, her fingers curling intimately close to a fist against the hard skin of his chest.

What was love? Why was she asking this again? Oh, he'd better tell her, his inebriated mind pieced.

"Ri-yen," he began, slipping one bandaged arm from around her and raising it into a pointed index finger. Rian's stomach churned, the desire to snatch his hand back and place it back into the comforting grip around the small of her back that made the skin underneath her T-shirt go alive with a crawling, strangely filling sensation filling her with sharpened want.

"Rian, love is." he began once more, his mind beginning to focus as the affect of the alcohol began wearing off.

"Love, is. Tha-that feeling, you get, when you th-th-think about a person , and feel all woozy inside. And you wa-want to be around that person all of the time, because the feelings you get make you sick and happy at the same time."

He looked down at Rian, returning his arm to hold her to him, feeling Rian release the breath she had been holding into his neck, making the scars on his neck where she'd bitten him drip with feeling as her ear brushed the crook of his neck. He then realized Rian was gazing at him, her green eyes imploring with question.

"A-and.." he started again, before reaching one hand to the face in front of him. Rian felt herself shiver, both with worry and utter fright as Lee's fingers brushed the side of her face, trailing up her cheekbone to the strands of hair that weren't long enough to tuck behind her headband.

He tenderly brushed the messy strands back behind her ear. He'd seen it in some movie once, but the impulsion to place his attention on anything but the eyes that were making his skin crawl with nervous anxiety driving his hand more then anything at all.

"Ya always, just want, to touch them, and feel that they're really real, and not just some sweet fantasy your mind made up. Kind of, kind of, kind of like.."

He paused, looking at Rian's still confused face, the silver-strand eyebrows raised in comprehension as her entire body shook with a startle. Her eyes widened with realization of her plaguing sensation, her fingers gripping the textile of his suit with a feeling that made his skin crawl. Her mouth parted as she stared with horror straight ahead, into Lee's face.

He couldn't help but quell her fears.

Lee gently pressed his lips to her open mouth, closing his eyes and pulling her closer, his fingers twisting around the brown, sweat damp material of Rian's T-shirt.

Rian was in shock, her fingers trembling with the intensity of the grip on the spandex. Her airway constricted as she breathed in, getting a mouthful of the hot exhaling of Lee's breath.

Oh, dear God. He was doing it again. What did this mean? Why did he do this again?

Why did it feel so right?  
Her entire body shook like a leaf as she leaned against him, wanting so badly to pull back and make the foreign exposure stop. But something in her would not let her step back. Something, the feeling rushing through her body compelling her to want this perhaps, would not let her step away.

This was so different. Neko-Chan had never told her about this. And yet, as repulsive as it was, the queer feeling of Lee's body against hers, she couldn't help but want it.

Lee's closed eyes stared back at her as she tried to ride out the wave of electrical feelings vibrating inside her heart and mind. Her figure shook within Lee's grip, her teeth wanting to chatter against each other with shivers , even though she felt stiflingly warm.

Beads of sweat began coursing down her face, rippling down her neck and soaking her collar. Her entire body felt itchy, as though a million bugs were crawling over her skin.

Oh, dear God, she groaned, when would this stop? Why was Lee doing this to her?

Why was he making her feel these things?

Then, almost as suddenly as it had begun, it was over.

Rian's head flopped limply against the comforting warmth of his chest. She wanted to cry, as she buried her face into the relaxed muscles, her hands curling from their tight grips in the indentions made by her fingernails in the spandex. And she didn't know why.

And yet, there was still something missing. She wanted something with all of her heart, but couldn't find out what it was. The burning desire was literally flaming within her, to the point that it made tears almost come into her eyes.

More. There was something, something, something more.

Lee's eyes reopened, before blinking sleepily at her, his smile indicating his contentment, even as his eyes sparkled with excitement.

"S-S-see? Like that-"

He was interrupted as Rian shoved him away, jumping as his feet touched the ground the first time to catch himself. Shining bone spikes leapt from the ground where the two had previously stood, in what would have been an impaling blow for the both of them.

Rian flipped backwards, skidding as more spikes followed her. Uneven blades began shooting up after Lee as well. Terror filling his partially-clear mind, he began jumping and dodging the rapidly-moving spears as they seemed to trail him through the remains of their section of the field's once proud and tall grass.

The chase was on. Rian zoomed back and snatched her blades from where two spikes had caught the knuckle holders. Slipping them on, a blaze of power sent her doubling back to stop the bone forest's creator.

"Oh, please keep Lee safe.." she said aloud, before her eyes bulged at the boldness of the statement. Neko-Chan glanced at her, his yellow eyes scolding for the shortest instant. She wanted to die of embarrassment.

What had made her say something like that?

Just knowing the dirty, sluttish desire of want she had felt in Lee's kiss made her blush red in shame.

Was that one of the evils of human sociality that she was not to have dipped her fingers into?

That rushing feeling that existed only in the single universe created by the caress of another's lips?

What horrors had she delved into with a single kiss, and the passionate sensations it entailed, she wondered as Kimimaro flashed in the corner of her eye. She instantly twisted her body and flew towards him.

If she or Lee didn't stop him, they'd be as good as dead. They both couldn't avoid the heinous spikes of bones covering the ground, shooting upwards, pausing to tower ominously over their heads, casting a blanket of darkness as the monstrous natural weapons clustered in a daunting canopic maze high above them.

Lee stumbled, leaping as fast as his body could to avoid the deadly sticks of bone as they zipped from the ground, like fingers reaching for him and lusting for the taste of his life.

Horror fueling him, he hopped from left to right, missing the spikes by inches.

His mind was clearing from the effects of the drop he had managed to get of sake, clear enough to realize the peril both he and his teammate were in.

The ground was splotched with the shadows of the towering bones that had already reached higher then Lee could calculate as his sandals became mere streaks of blue streamlinly blended with orange, propelling the lanky, green-clothed body to swoop and just barely sidestep the hellish attacks.

It was like a forest made of bones.

The place was so dark he could barely see in time to jump out of the way as the sticks emerged from the ground, the razor edges glittering in what light there was.

The danger of becoming impaled on one of those bones was growing steadily with every minute they spent in the forest. They seemed to be coming up faster, and faster. At this rate, if Lee managed to survive more then a few minutes in the labyrinth, he might have to open the Kaimon just to be able to miss the attacks.

He leapt to the side, barely dodging two perpendicular blades. The ground was rapidly being filled with the china-white weapons. How could that boy possibly have this many bones in his body, even with a regenerative supply this large? With the proper chakra required to do this massive attack, he could very well wreak untold amounts of destruction on small villages, or even one as large as Konohagakure.

This many weapons was just ridiculous.

Bouncing off of one acutely angled rapier, Lee started to weigh what options he had. He had to get out of here or he would rather soon be doing an impression of a shish kebob. But, his chances of survival were decreasing with every second he spent in this actual Forest Of Death, with bones twisting like unkept ivy from the dark brown earth. There were so many daggers ejecting from the ground, he hardly see the dirt and what might be left of the few brave tufts of grass not ripped from their roots.

At this rate, there wasn't going to be anywhere left on the ground to stand on-

Lee's thoughts were interrupted as a narrow-tipped bone blade snagged the leg of his jumpsuit.

He found himself being rapidly pulled upwards, hanging upside down before he had even pieced together what was happening as the bone shot up to a monstrous proportionate size.

Well, maybe this wasn't such a bad thing, he thought, flattening himself against his mode of accidental transportation to avoid a rather quickly moving weapon, which zinged so close to his face that he heard the whistle as it sliced the air.

Perhaps a better vantage point would present itself from above. He couldn't have stayed on the ground much longer anyway.

Rian was not quite as lucky. Hundreds of feet away, she was pouring every inch of her energy into evading the weaponry stabbing at her. Several stabs had already connected, manifesting themselves as skin-deep cuts where she hadn't caught herself as quickly. She was bleeding heavily from a gash in her shoulder blade, where she'd paused for an instant to catch her breath and been caught by a weapon. Bitter, ripping sensations emanated from where leaping to avoid a particularly large bayonet, she'd somehow managed to twist her groin at a bent angle, making every movement rip at the pulled muscles in her abdomen.

Kimimaro was no where to be seen.

She had been chasing him in a last attempt to finish the Kayuga for good. But bones had shot up, blocking her path, and trying to find a new route through the forest of twisted, white tree-like bones was her only option.

She was completely lost, and playing Roulette with death with every stride she maneuvered.

Twisting her body as far as it would possibly bend, she managed to miss another clump of bones.

It was like the flames of the underworld were rising up from the ground, and with the fire licking at her feet, she was attempting to dodge them. Her shoes were already pierced in several places from stepping on the pungee-stick-sharp tips of the milk white bayonets, her feet bleeding from the stab of the blades.

Her chest heaving with pants, sweat pouring over her body, which was running on terror and adrenaline. Rian sprinted in a direction. If she stood still, she might as well be throwing herself directly onto one of the emerging poleax.

The chance of her perishing, her limp body skewered on any of the bones in this entire jungle of white, by Kimimaro's attack was becoming greater, and more imminent.

She was in the middle of a forest, with no direction out, and using all of her energy to evade attacks. Her chakra level was high enough that she wouldn't die of exhaustion, but not enough for an attempt to blast her way through the webs of china-colored remnants of attacks.

And, it was becoming harder to actually get anywhere. The bones, having completely covered the ground, had no place to go. So, they erupted, layer after layer of dangerous, extremely pointed levels, like teeth, rising upwards in between the spaces unoccupied by the rest of the weapons.

Tangled webs of steel-hard bone seemed to block every direction. She couldn't begin to use her chakra to dismember them, so every advance forward was crawling between the gaps in the skeletal mold being created beneath her. Stopping moving was not an option, with the constantly shifting landscape underneath her feet. If her progress was halted for even an instant, the results could be disastrous.

She twisted to the left, skating between two bones, a gap so small anyone larger then her probably wouldn't have fit. The holes around her were getting smaller and harder to go through.

At this rate-

"Neko-Chan. We need -a plan." she said, the words hitching in her dry throat as she leapt up, using chakra to hold her sideways on a larger bone as she sidestepped a bramble of smaller spikes.

Here's my plan. Run like hell.

Rian continued to run perpendicular to the ground, her chakra dissipating even as it crackled at her feet.

"You know I can't keep this up forever! My chakra is almost gone, and I'm ru-running out of energy. I can't keep running fore-"

You'll keep running, because I said so!

Rian blinked at the anger present in Neko-Chan's tone. His yellow eyes nearly burned her with the flicker of hate as he stared emotionlessly through the blackness of his residence in her conscious.

She couldn't believe he would be angry at her. Neko-Chan? No. It was her fault, for, for being weak. Of course. He had ever right to be angry at her. It was her fault, and the cross look in the cat's sharp eyes wasn't because she was human. It was because she was weak.

She uttered a low cry, under her breath, and forced more power into her rapidly failing limbs. Evading even more weapons as the ground beneath her rumbled.

The rhyming thud of her sandals against the ground resonated in her ears like the mantra fluttering on her lips. Every footfall sent rockets of pain shooting up every inch of her numbing body, making her want to cry out, or stop, god, stop.

Her mind was being glazed over, her understanding wiped away, as her only comprehension was becoming the overpowering sensations as she mechanically leapt, dodged, twisted, jerked, and fell-

Fell. Dear God, she couldn't stop it. Her body refused to move anymore.

Feeling herself lose power over one of her limp limbs, she tipped dangerously forward, tripping until her face nearly brushed the ground.

Neko-Chan caught her loss of balance. Flattening his ears against his head, he growled.

Oh no, you don't, you little bitch!

Rian's eyes widened as she hurried to capture some sort of equilibrium, skidding across the ground before snatching her balance back. What? It was an accident. Surely he wasn't angry enough to have called her a-… But, the neko wasn't quite finished yet.

His next hurried statement cut her worse then any bone in the entire maze they were lost in could have.

I will not die because I chose a weak container, do you hear me? YOU LITTLE SON OF A BITCH! I WILL NOT DIE BECAUSE OF AN UNWORTHY LITLE BITCH LIKE YOU!

The world slowed as the words hit her ears, reverberating inside of her head, before settling into her mind and sending shockwave booming through her thoughts.

Wha-wha-what? N-N-N-N.. he'd never said.. Die? But, but she- wasn't- She was trying.. So hard- And through the pain- For him.

Neko-Chan's nostrils flared, raging breaths snorting from his upturned, dainty nose. His narrow eyes slanted shut as he forced the orgasmic outburst to expel itself.

He would not die because Rian was weak. He was of far more importance then a worthless, nose-wiping little attention whore. Why he had settled for one of the most useless, persuadable, so-easily-seduced it was sickening bodies to contain was beyond him even now. How _dare_ she defy him! After all that he'd done for her. And now, to just up and give up. That child was useless for nothing but entertaining his sick, masochistic pleasures for any more. She couldn't so this, this one thing, for him. Her physical condition be screwed. She was his container, and nothing more. And she was to give him everything she had, and never breathe her last, if he commanded it.

Commanded. Suddenly, Neko-Chan and her's relationship had shifted from friend and companion, to master and servant.

Rian blinked. Had- he really said those words? Was she really… so useless to him?

The words continued to gnaw at her, haunting, pillaging, eating away, as they became her only attention.

If she wasn't important to Neko-Chan.

Then she wasn't important to anyone.

She skidded to a halt in a clear spot, standing as the ground rocked with tremors. Heaving gulps of sweet air into her lungs, she stood, her limp arms hanging lifelessly at her sides, head bowed.

"I can't… keep going." she rasped, hoping for a chance to further explain herself.

Neko-Chan's scowl deepened, and he opened his fang-endowed mouth to scold her, but Rian's hand flew up, shielding her face from a swipe of the suddenly blinding sunlight that peeked through from above.

"My body.. Won't let me."

The next words would continue to haunt her for the rest of her life, even after they had escaped this Forest Of Death.

I don't care.

Rian gasped, the hand that had been laying on her ribs and coaxing her chest to rise clenching the skin above her heart. She looked imploringly into the mocha face, begging the emotionless steel in his eyes to relent, and give her any reason for such words. Had Neko-Chan been spirited away, and replaced by this.. This monster?

One look into his hardened eyes spoke every word she denied and denied thousands of time in the mere instants she stood, her body battered and worn for his sake.

You serve me. And when I say jump, you say, "How high?".

Rian's olive eyes blinked closed, opening to a blurred landscape as wetness escaped the corners of them.

I gave you everything. And you will not leave this world indebted to me. You will not leave this world until I say so. I am not only your authority. I should be your God, for all that you owe me.

The two lone tears rolled down her blood-traced, dirt-encrusted cheeks, cleansing paths in the mire that covered her face, blinded her.

Rian hadn't cried in ten years.

But these tears,.

****

Opened her eyes.

"Neko-Chan."

His eyes slid over her, his disgust enraged by the show of emotion on her face.

The tears plitted to the ground, disappearing into the grass beneath her feet as her face shrunk into a cringe.

"_I DON'T SERVE ANYONE WHO TALKS TO ME LIKE THAT!_"

The ground beneath her feet erupted, as a sob pealed from her throat. From the dirt emerged a white, impaling spike, prominent against the emerald colored grass, streaking upwards towards the unlucky and completely exhausted child that happened to be standing in it's wrath.

Rian grimaced, more sweet tears overflowing from her eyes, seeing the bone shoot towards it's target at a speed in which there was no way to possibly evade it. At the angle she stood, in the instant she was, - There was only time to-

"And I die with you."

The sickening sound of blade slicing flesh echoed through the forest, reverberating off of the emptiness that hung between the virgin ivory trees of this death forest.

Ah, Kimimaro smiled. He sensed the impalation in his mind, signaling that one of the children's end had come, even though he was thousands of feet away, concealed in the depths of his created jungle of white.

Smiling, he called off the attack. His hands twisted over themselves in a moulding seal, and the forest of bones stopped tremoring with new growth.

In the field, the forest of bones, there was stillness.

Silence.

Lee flapped his arm at the caught fabric of his jumpsuit leg, curling his body up to reach the material, which was still caught on the bone.

Exhausted, he sighed, and flopped back down at gravity's pull. The world stared, upside-down, back at his exasperated gaze. His forehead, white with lack of sun, was bared as his bangs stuck towards the ground, or straight up. Ugh. His perspective was becoming skewed.

He had been hanging here like an idiot for at least a few minutes, he guessed.

He sighed, taking note of the stillness. Had the attack been stopped? Had Rian managed to stop Kimimaro?

His thoughts had been with his female teammate nearly the entire time as he struggled to escape hanging at least one hundred feet up by his pantleg. Lee had never felt more like a complete doofus in his life.

Someone should just stamp 'jackass' on his forehead. How stupid.

He groaned. Wanting to get down was not an issue. He _needed _to get unsnagged, get down from this damned spike, and go find Rian. The forest had stopped vibrating with shudders of new additions to it's already eyebrow-raising vastness. Damn. There was a valley of bones striking farther into the distance then Lee could see, like the remains of a great army.

Or maybe there weren't. It's not like he could _see anything, hanging upside down like a kamidamned pansy!_

Ooooh! He could just have a temper tantrum. Not only did he look like a complete idiot, hanging upside-down like he had the intelligence of cookie batter, but Rian might need his help down there.

Rian-San.

Well, all the blood going to his brain had some purpose. He had the time to berate himself for getting drunk and, once again, smacking her a good one across the lips.

Gawd! He was so stupid! Even if he was drunk, Rian was going to hate him forever. How could he have done that, even in a considerably intoxicated state? He'd never tried to kiss _Gai-sensei _when he was drunk, and he thought almost as much of Rian as he did Gai.

Wait. Yes, he did. Rian was his nearest and best friend. She had hung with him during his injuries. She had never made fun of him in public. She didn't act ashamed to be around him, despite every silly thing he did. She'd cheered him up when Sakura hadn't shown up on their date. She'd even come after him when he'd gotten his ass in trouble with this bone manipulating creepazoid.

Yes. Rian was probably his best friend in the whole wide world.

And probably would be laughing her brains out at him right now.

If she didn't want to kill him already.

Grunting, he struggled to reach for his caught leg, his fingers barely brushing the fuzzy fabric of the legwarmer that would have been covering his weights, had he been wearing them.

His grunts reverberated through the undisturbed silence, as he snorted like a pig between various indefinable noises as he struggled to reach his leg. It had suddenly become much harder to-

It was hopeless. Lee flopped back down, stretching his back to the blindingly clean surface of the bone.

He closed his eyes and drew his arms up, bending them and placing them on top of his head, rhythmically drumming at his skull with a few of his fingers.

It was so quiet here. Lonely. He hoped Rian had faired well in the trial beneath him.

"Please have kept her safe.." he prayed aloud, his voice a whisper as the wind blew the words away, tossling his black, mussed bangs with their fingers-

"Are you looking for this?"

Lee's eyes popped open at the slippery, snake-like voice. Who was-

He was instantly met with an object flying directly at him. Throwing his arms up, his mind frantically tried to figure out what was going on.

The object thudded into his chest, limply folding around him. Lee automatically gripped the warm object, unsure of what it exactly was. The thin, skeletal sack-like entity shifted into Lee, before slumping to gravity's pull as though it was going to slide between his arms and plummet downwards.

What the? Who was-

His stomach lurched.

Lee's onyx orbs widened as he recognized the brown, suddenly darkened fabric flapping loosely at a thin, only nascently curved waist.

His entire body shook, silently praying that he was mistaken as his eyes followed up the definite human form he was holding in his arms.

One of the limp arms drooped from his grip, hanging over the nothingness beneath them. Blood dripped, slowly, surely, down in a silent, crimson plitter from the stomach facing the suddenly waning ground.

A wave of nausea swept over the teen, and he came very close to letting the body slide, slick with blood, beneath his grasp.

He was holding a dead body.

Kimimaro, still bare of his shirt and rid of his bone armor, perched on top of a bone, sat crossed legged, grinning down at the scene as Lee gasped in recognition of the limp form he held.

Blood was trailing out the corner of Rian's mouth, marking her grimacing face with a nearly burgundy stripe.

Lee looked hurriedly up the form of his teammate, even as bile burned at the back of his throat.

Rian was covered in blood. Her shirt was soaked with it, almost black from the coloring.

There was an emptiness, and a sense of give where his arm supported her limp groin. Lee's bandages touched that particular spot, and blossomed crimson in less then a couple of seconds.

Her arms were scratched and bloody, purple and yellow with already-formed bruises, up her shoulders and some disappearing beneath the wide sleeves of her shredded shirt.

Her skin was ash white, her olive colored eyes closed. Her head flopped downwards limply, as though her neck had been broken. Scratches covered her from head to foot, whisker-like marks marring her cheeks.

"You!" Lee called, his voice still high with astonishment, before he hotly turned to look at the smirking Kayuga.

"What did you do to her?"  
Kimimaro's smile only brightened, as Lee's teeth gritted in his mouth. He hugged his teammate closer to his heaving chest, feeling the warmth of her blood soaking through his spandex and making the skin beneath the cloth crawl with the tepid sensation.

"Heh. What does it look like I did?" he asked gleefully.

Lee growled, straining at the simple binding above him, all while clasping the bloodied body to his chest.

"I knew you would suffer more if I killed that bitch of yours. Well, now you can hold her one more time-"

The Kayuga paused, raising his forearm to his bare chest. Bones ejected from the unscratched, pale skin, daggers of even more white sharpening themselves. Kimimaro smiled wistfully, before aiming his arm, fist clenched, at Lee's scowling face.

"-before you both die."

Suddenly, tan began swirling around the Kayuga, causing the shirt at his waist to flutter. Puzzled, Kimimaro looked away, searching for the source of the strange, crunching noises.

Lee's eyes widened, as he recognized the familiar and haunting sound and smell. The metallic scent of blood filled his nose, and he hugged Rian closer in anticipation of what was coming, drawing in a sharp breath.

Kimimaro raised an eyebrow as a swirling substance made itself known, cascading around his ankles as he sat. The feeling of the element brushing his calves suddenly clicked with recognition in his mind.

Sand?

"SUBAKU KYUU!"

Lee shielded his face as much as possible as Kimimaro was crushed by the all too familiar technique.

Plittering blood began to rain in dark red, fingerprint sized droplets, tacking as they melted into the already fresh, slick blood that covered Rian from head to toe.

Lee watched in astonishment as Gaara, fluttering trench coat billowing with the wind, suddenly slid into view. The desert substance underneath his boots served as a platform, which he was somehow making levitate as he floated to a standstill, and began glaring disapprovingly down at Lee, arms crossed over his chest.

Lee blinked under the ice-sharp glare, not sure what to say. He shifted Rian in his arms, inhaling her comforting scent, even though it was sharp with the coppery smell of blood.

Gaara? Gaara of the Sand had come to his rescue? But, how- was everybody tracking him today?

And, what was with the new threads? Why, he was dressed as though he were-

"Kazekage-Sama?" he broke the silence with, on eyebrow hunching upwards in question.

Gaara nodded, tilting his head upwards to gaze at Lee's caught leg, before his gaze slid back down to the pathetic way Lee was holding his teammate's limp body.

The Sand had actually created an alliance with the Leaf. Oh, boy. Gaara hoped all of Konoha's forces weren't as stupid as this one shinobi.

Without a word, the sand quietly slipped beneath Lee's head, forming a platform as Lee questioningly eyed the swirling substance beneath him, no doubt thinking of his prior injuries due to the silt.

"Let her go." Gaara said, his voice coaxing, as though he wasn't sure if Lee would relinquish his hold on his teammate long enough for Gaara to get him down too.

Lee, having no other choice, mulled the option in his mind, before letting Rian gently drop from his arms, sliding her feet first to the temporary refuge keeping them all from certain death.

She thudded on her side to the sand, without stirring. Lee's gaze hurriedly fixed itself to Gaara.

Gaara blinked, and some of his sand busily went to work wrapping itself around Lee's leg, until it had gained enough strength on it's own to rip the fabric directly off of the bone.

The sand caught Lee firmly by the calf, and quickly deposited him on Gaara's previously created platform, gently setting him on his head.

Lee sat up, shaking his black hair from side to side as blood rushed down to his numbed arms and legs, making his torso churn with the sensation.

"Why are you helping-" he began, before Gaara's expression as the sand shadow raised his head made him freeze with the frigid intent. Gaara's eyes had terrified Lee since they had first met, and still did.

"Konoha has formed an alliance with Suna. That means, I have an obligation to not let the more idiotic ninja forces get themselves, and their teammates murdered."

Lee blinked. Ouch. Gaara had a decisive way of talking as well. No wonder he had been appointed Kazekage. And don't forget his probably being the strongest nin in all of the Sand and all.

The teal eyes beneath a blood red kanji tattoo slid over to the bent form of Lee's teammate. Rian was still where Lee had dropped her, a pinched expression on her dirt-brushed cheeks.

Lee was already at the girl's side when Gaara's eyes reopened from a lethargic blink, his black eyes taking in the depth of the injuries she had sustained.

Oh, god. One of his cotton-swathed palms covered his mouth as he drew back the blood-heavy cloth just enough to see the gaping hole in her torso. Dark blood still coursed out of the wound, ragged flesh looking as though she had been shot with a disintegrating laser ray, or hastily ripped from her impaling place.

His free, trembling hand tentatively rose towards her blood-splattered face. He gently rested his hand against her neck, almost as if she would shatter like glass at the smallest misguidance of touch.

Oh, please. In his mind, he screamed pleas to the Kami and all that was good for there to be a soft thumping against his fingers as he pressed them with the lightest touch his shaking hands were able to mold.

His mouth remained a taut, slightly trembling line as the moment of truth reached their conjoined forms-

Thump. Thump.

Blood gushed in Lee's ears, relief washing over him like a wave.

He withdrew his fingers from the surprisingly soft skin of his teammate's neck, a shaky smile gracing his face.

She was still alive. Yes. She wasn't dead.

Yet. Time was still of the essence, of course. The sooner they both got to a hospital, the better. But, one major hurdle had been passed. If she was still breathing, there might be a chance to-

"Can you get her back to Konohagakure yourself?" Gaara's voice came, causing Lee to open his eyes.

His eyelashes fluttering against his sweat-streaked cheekbones, Lee reached out, touch a little bolder this time, and lightly brushed his fingers against Rian's, suddenly angelic, despite all of the marring dirt, cuts and blood, face. He caught the twinge of her lip and the twitch of her closed eyes at his fondling, chipped fingernails.

"Yes." he said, his attention focused to the face he found captivating his attention. From the drawn palate, to the parted mouth he had not too long ago brushed with his own, he was caught in the rose-colored moment of a ravaged face and the beginning of feelings that would be forgotten in place of deeper, harsher ones not too far from then.

The gilded instant would forever be captured in some corner of his heart. As the first time he ever felt something more then friendship for the young, nascent girl he would come to love, even if it's exact positions would be lost in the shifting sands of the weakness in human memory.

Gaara nodded, and the sand slowly began lowering to set the threesome down safely away from the permanent remains of the nearly fatal fight on what was once a beautiful expanse of nature's handwork.

Lee's hand brushed behind Rian's neck, his arm snaking to support her limp neck. His other hand slid underneath her knees, sliding in the slick blood, the only anchor for his forearms being the blood-soaked, ripped pantlegs.

Gently, he heaved his body up into a crouching position, nearly falling backwards at his over anticipation of Rian's weight. He caught his balance, and rose to his feet, marveling and revolted at the matchstick-thin body encased in the vices of his arms.

God. She was so small. Why hadn't he ever noticed how tiny she was before? She couldn't be healthy at all, not the size she was. How had he never noticed how wasted she was, yellow tinted skin stretched over those sinewy muscles?

Dear, lord. It was like he wasn't holding anything at all. Just a pile of limp bones wrapped in bloody cloth.

A marionette made of hollow wood.

The sand melted into the ground as the two sets of feet touched the solid surface of the earth. As the sand skittered back into the gourd on the Sand nin's back, the two once-enemies stood, facing each other with the most casual expressions they could muster at the time.

"Thank you." Lee said, his face tippeting to a smile as Gaara shrugged off the remark, with a visible slouch of his shoulders and an uncaring expression.

Wordlessly, the young Suna nin turned his back to Lee, who was standing as straight as he could, his teammate's body draped over his arms.

Gaara's hand flew to a seal, and sand began to cascade up his body, while Lee took his last breath, and hugged Rian to his chest, before bursting at his legendary speed back towards Konoha.

What was important was what Gaara had not said.

And, as Lee looked down at what he thought were the blinking eyes of the half-conscious body in his arms, the lives he had saved.

**A/N: Review, please. Review or the next chapter won't be happy in any way! **


	13. Awakened Demons

**Author's Note: Welcome to Crampville, population HMR. I'm in a lot of pain this week, from cutting myself with a razor to having my period A FRIGGIN' WEEK EARLY. **

**-ahem- I know, I'm backlogged with private messages. I will answer them all in time..**

**We have two new fanarts, which bowserjr had to approve before I could feel right about putting them on for you all to see. One is a little, ah, ... 'bondage-y'. Nothing too ecci, I promise. Would you comment on them in your reviews, please? Thank you! I lurve you all! -throws apple tarts in the air-**

**As for goings on in my life, I have discovered Uchiha Itachi. I swore I would never like the major heartthrobs of Naruto (Itachi, Kakashi-sensei, Sasuke). But, I have given in to Uchiha-lust. Itachi is so hot. -wishes she owned an Akatsuki robe- In the manga, he's so smexy! In the anime, he's kind of.. gimpy. Ah, yes. -clears throat- I'm a'Tachi-Chan fangirl, now. BUT LEE IS STILL MY LOVE!**

**Cause for celebration this week. KHAZIA ASKED ME TO BETA FOR HER! I'm the personal check for 'City Of Lies'. Ain't that just grand?**

**This suspenseful chapter dedicated to MayanGirl6. I was having a crisis with Max this week, so I didn't respond to your PM, girlfriend. Consider this my apology. :(**

"HEY!"

Rian's eyes shot open, her mouth parting at the shock of the overwhelming glare of the lights as they burst into her vision as one blinding illumination.

Her eyelids drooped, relieving some of the smart incurred by the glaring lamp light blazing a few feet from her in the horizontally-turned world. She recognized her hand, and commanded, feebly, for it to rise from where it was curled to the warmth of her chest.

The bandages wound loosely around her stomach crinkled as Rian pushed her opposite hand to the mattress beneath her. The line stuck in the vein beneath the skin of her hand stung, and the machine joined by plastic tubing to the catheter began dripping the smallest bit faster and made a series of _beeping _noises, before settling back to it's previous rhythm.

The blinding intensity of the dank hospital lighting was subsiding, Rian's vision slowly replacing objects with shadows, filling the deep earth tones of yester second with the true, rich colors she had missed behind the rubicund obscurement of her eyelids.

She was in a, the first whiff of awareness said, a hospital.

Her nose was being filled with the smells she had lived with not that far back in time. Rubbing alcohol, iodine, and the overbearing - was it stench? Of Bentadine once more flooded her senses with their powerful, tanging scent, like cheap French perfume.

Where had- hospital… she was hu- Ow!  
Her groin exploded in a wave of pain. Wincing, she placed a hand to the white covering over her abdomen, feeling for the taut, flexing muscles where the sensation radiated.

There was nothing.

Rian's olive eyes flew open, her hand searching the area padded with gauze beneath her shirt. Of course, there was skin. There were bandages, and there was her hand, but there was nothing there. No muscles cringed at her command, shaking with the shivers that rushed up and down her body at the realization.

What- what had happened?

"Well, good morning, sleepy head!"

Rian looked, confused, for the sound of the voice, which turned out to be the pertly curled lips beneath whisker slash marks, topped with electric blue retinas that shined with impish joy.

Naruto bent over the stunned look on his friend's teammate's face, liquid dribbling from the upturned corners of his foxy smile. He laughed slightly, before bringing his hand up and slamming another bite into the tight flesh of the dapple-marked apple he held clasped in his hand.

Rian blinked. Naruto? What was Naruto doing-

"Geez! What took you so long?" the Kitsune child asked, his voice holding scoff and the twitch of joy he was known for. The sweet nectar of the apple he was eating coursed out of his open-toothed smile, which he hurriedly wiped on an orange sleeve.

"I thought you were gonna sleep forever!" he declared, nodding. His blue eyes gazed with genuine care, even with the joking glint in the corners.

Suddenly, Naruto leaned directly into the confused expression, apple-flavored slobber spraying Rian as his glance narrowed into a glare.

"Well, are you gonna say something, or just sit there, looking like a fish?". His voice rose, squeaking dramatically with all the fury his prepubescent throat could manage.

"What happened?"

To her own surprise, Rian's voice was no more then a whisper. Her throat ached with the forming of the words, but she swallowed the burning feeling, letting cool saliva coat the raw scratch marks as they stung with every rasping breath.

Why did it hurt to breathe? Why did every movement of her body make her rack with pain? The slightest shift of her body send electrical nuisances of sensation up her small frame?

Naruto's steel blue eyes rolled towards the ceiling as a sigh heaved itself from the depths of the sunken chest within his orange jacket.

"Oh, so you're gonna play damsel in distress and not remember? Fine." he said smartly, as though he had been forced to tell said tale several times that day.

Rian stayed curled on her side on the sterile hospital sheet, and licked her dry, cracked lips, awaiting the retelling of why she was in so much pain, and in the cold, quiet section of this damned infirmary.

"By all accounts, you went chasing after Geyi Mayo like a bat outta hell." Naruto began, taking another huge bite out of his apple, wiping the juice from the apple onto his already-stained sleeve.

"You caught up with him just in time, too. Another second, and he would have been sliced like a Thanksgivin' turkey."

Chewing the rather large bite, he paused, and swallowed the more-then-a-mouthful, a lump appearing on the outside of his throat. He took another bite of the disappearing fruit before continuing.

"The bone guy ended up sticking you. He backed the two of you into a corner, and then Sand Bastard showed up and saved both of your butts."

Rian had been comprehending Naruto's half-baked explanation thus far. She was beginning to remember the first techniques of the fight, dodging the bones as she and Kimimaro locked into one-on-one combat, Lee getting drunk again and-

Oh, damn.

"Yep. Gaara-I'm-The-Sand-Mofo-Kazekage-Kiss-My-Ass Subuku-Kyuu-ed Bone-Boy there into oblivion before he could have killed both of you. And then, Lee brought you back here."

Rian blinked. Lee had- what had happened to him when she was unconscious?

"Where is he?" she asked, starting to push herself up. Naruto's face colored with alarm as she muscled into a sitting position, trying to slow the world's wild tilting. Her equilibrium was off, it being so long since she had risen from a horizontal point of spectrum.

Jumping from where he was seated on the arm of an upholstered hospital chair, Naruto pressed a hand to Rian's chest, successfully forcing her back down into a level position. She was thankful, but at the same time annoyed at Naruto's bold and gentle prod in the direction.

Her body sunk back into the stiff mattress, a groan of ecstasy escaping her throat as she rested her head against the soft give. Her head was exploding with fireworks, the only part of her body her rest-dulled brain that was taking the sharp end of the pain signals from.

Despite the painkillers flowing into her, and the morphine she was almost doped on, there was still a huge amount of the hurt coming through the fog of medications clouding her senses.

Her body curled in on itself defensively, Rian twisting into a comforting fetal position, ignoring how weak and helpless it made her feel in front of Naruto. She was in too much pain to care, the ripping aches quivering up her spine with sensual awareness that made her bare arms rise with goosebumps.

But above it all, the rising bubble of panic in her head outcried the synopses of pain firing back and forth.

Grimacing, she forced feeling into her lips to beg the question that was inwardly ravaging her with fear of the answer.

"What about Lee?" she moaned, her voice sounding strained as she bit her lip.

Naruto clacked his feet together happily, holding onto the arm of the chair he sat on coyly.

"He was fine. But you should have seen him, stumbling in here all covered in your blood, dragging you through the door all limp like a rag doll in his arms…"

"What?" she asked, hooking her attention on the last half-attention-paid run on of a sentence. She forced herself up again, her hands supporting her body, anchored and gripping the folds of the sheet beneath her.

Naruto's eyebrow raised a little, but he obliged.

"Yeah. He brought you back from the fight. Opened one of those Inner Gate doohickeys. Came tearin' in to this hospital, carrying you all limp and stuff, covered in your blood. Man, you were bleeding something' fierce. They had to give you like, what?-"

The rest of Naruto's babblings went unheard, as Rian blocked the sound of his voice from her ears with concentration.

Lee had brought her back from the fight? But, how did he find her? Why would he even do that, and let alone open one of the Gates-

A gasp caught in her throat, and one of her hands flew to cover her opened mouth.

Lee had opened one of the Inner Gates? .. Oh, god, no. He wasn't supposed to do that!

In his condition, with having just had his surgery, opening even the Kaimon could have been substantially injurious. The tender ligaments in his limbs had barely begun to knit back to their former web holds, and the crushed bones were still held together with metal pins and screws.

They couldn't take the strain of a rushing chakra blow like that. Not in their weakened condition.

Panic flooded her entire body, making it quiver with utter fear.

What, what if he, had been injured, b-b-beyond repair?

Tears flooded the corners of her eyes, squeezing between her fingers as her hot hands found their way to her face as she tried to deny Naruto's explanation. But, her entire body shook with trembles as the staunt facts began to align themselves in her comprehensive thought processing.

Lee could be hurt. Just because she had gone after him.

How could she have been so stupid? Why had she let herself be caught in Kimimaro's attack? Why hadn't she ran a little faster? Longer? Harder?

If he was hurt, it was her fault. Why had he even brought her back in the first place?

She had been fully ready to di- No.

She hadn't been ready to die.

And Lee, Lee had risked himself to bring her back to Konoha. Back to a hospital, where they could cauter the massive bleeding from her torso.

Blood. Ah, the blood.

Releasing one of her hands from the cup around her face, she pressed it to the unresponsive tissue wrapped under winding stripes of clean, surgical dressing.

So much blood. She remembered her conscious dipping between Earth and merciless sleep.

The lapses of being awake, which made her only barely aware of her injury, had been bludgeoned with pain as her stab opened, letting her life dribble out from the torn skin in cups, entire buckets, of crimson.

Those times when she was aware of the world were limited to a choice few, manifesting themselves in the sensations incurred during them, as her eyes had been shut while she begged sleep to take her once more.

Remembered. What she remembered…

Screaming. The presence, a light. The pain. Oh, the pain. Blood. There had been blood everywhere.

Someone, someone picked her up- Being thrown. Caught, in the strongest arms she had ever felt. Held close as force pulled menacingly on her limp form. A growl. Sand. Swirling, desert sand, which smelled of blood, metallic and pungent. Another pair of arms, and than, than…

Emptiness. Merciful darkness had arrested her, leaving her powerless as the seconds, minutes, hours rolled, like sea-colored waves of blood scented fields.

Her body, underneath the gauze bandage, was flat and without power. The flexing muscles in her torso were non existent, as though they had been removed.

A hollow feeling in her groin indicated emptiness inside her torso. She felt lighter, as well. Something, was missing. On the outside and the inside.

"-And Tsunade had to suction all of your bloody guts into a bag. This big, ol' gaping hole was torn in your stomach, where Kimimaro had impaled you on something. It was all red and covered in blood, with ripped skin on it. It was so cool!" Naruto continued, yanking one side of his headband boyishly over his right eye.

A wide grin displayed his pleasure at having witnessed Lee's teammate's "bloody, gaping stab". He thought he could never have seen something so fascinating. Rian should have been dead from the wound. But she wasn't, which added to the utter "coolness" of the situation.

Sitting with one hand between his legs, he peeked at Lee's teammate from beneath his headband.

Rian was so cool. She could fight like any boy he'd ever seen, and she had those awesome weapons. She put up with Gai, Lee, _and_ Hyuuga-teme all at once without going completely psycho.

And. A silliness darted over his smile, she was a nice-looking girl, too. Without those red stripes across her face, she was kind of pretty. Her eyes were even more green then a certain Haruno girl.

A giggle leapt from Naruto's curled lips, before a hand slapped his opened mouth in an attempt to stifle his mirth.

Boy. It was too bad that she wasn't for grabs. She was, by most people, Rock Lee's girlfriend.

Ayame had commented on them to Naruto a few days before when she had been cleaning after his mess as he got his ramen fix for the month at the Ramen Shop. He had paused, broth dripping from his chin as the Kitsune boy had stared at Ayame. She had shrugged, and replied she had seen them on a date a few weeks ago, her tone hinting.

Naruto's jaw had banged into his bowl. Lee? Geyi Mayo Bushy Eyebrows? A girlfriend?

What about his 'undying love and protection' vow to Sakura?

After a while, he had laughed about it. Well, without Lee around to bug her, Sakura was much more likely to look around at other men. Hopefully, her other teammate, who had the tendency to annoy the hell out of her.

But he had still had to see it to believe it. That Rock Lee, Geyi Mayo, had the fortune to procure any woman's good opinion either meant Lee had changed his looks, or that woman was as blind as a bat.

And although he wasn't a guy to take stock in loving action, he had to admit, Lee dragging her back from a fight, and injuring himself to give her another shot at living, did give an implication that he thought a little highly of the girl.

Man! Geyi Mayo was so lucky.

"So, he's alright.."

Rian's choked voice rasped up her throat, cutting the air of the moment rustily.

Naruto blinked as though he was shocked by the noise pealing from her. An instant later, another clueless smile washed over his features.

"Yeah. Yeah. He did fall over the second the medic took you from him. He came to a few minutes after, though. He's been sitting in the waiting room since then."

Rian looked at him. Her eyes were green pools of unadulterated concern. Olive, verdant, rippling with the latest tears that had left paths down her pale cheeks.

"How long has it been since then?"

Still grinning, Naruto leaned back. Orange-sleeved arms slid across his chest, as he crossed them and sat up straight. The sharp points of his fox-endowed teeth poked through as he smiled winningly at her.

"Aching to get out of here?" he stated, more than asked. He hadn't noticed the worry in Rian's crystal eyes.

He bit down on the apple in his hand again. He almost chomped on his hand, so little of the fruit remained.

"Tsunade Baa-chan said when you woke up, everything would be fine if you wanted to go home right aways. You gotta pour some shit over the hole in your abs, but other than that, you're just fine!"

His explanation through, the Kitsune container shut one eye, stuck his tongue out the corner of his mouth, leaned so far back on the arm of the chair that he should have fallen on the floor, and threw what remained of the apple at what must have been the direction of the garbage can by the door.

His aim was wildly off, causing the core to fly through the unclosed door, splatter slightly against the opposite wall, and land on the sporadically striped linoleum of the hallway's floor.

Growling, Naruto hopped to his feet. Shizune would hit him with a bedpan if he didn't pick the thing up.

Rian looked at her bare feet for a minute, allowing the world's spinning to slow, before pushing her body forward and patting to the cold floor with hardly a sound.

The backs of her knees still burned, as if she could feel Lee's arm imbedded in the skin. Her body creaked back to existence, remembering muscles and ligaments that were reluctant to wake from the catatonic state the pain medicine had shielded them in for the last few days.

As though she was being played in slow motion on a tape, Rian slowly began to straighten her body. Her back and upper legs felt numb, as if cold liquid was pooled around them.

Her arms, lighter than she last remembered, felt like plastic pipes attached to her shoulders by rubber bands.

Partially healed scrapes poked upwards with dried, powdery red. Bruises, purple and blue contusions

miscolored her slowly pink-filling arms like polka-dots.

Her body leaning forward, she squared her back, until she was looking straight across the room at her previous eye level.

Her entire body was throbbing, and yet numb enough that every jolt was like being bludgeoned by a dull point of an object. Shafts of intense pain emitted from her abdomen. Her stomach was turning as though it were inside a dryer, being tumbled on a high heat setting. For a dark second, she thought she was going to regurgitate the chakra-molded remains of the stomach that hadn't been devastated by the impaling bone from Kimimaro's weaponry.

Thankfully, the nausea dispersed, leaving Rian standing, knees bent, beside the inviting hospital bed.

She closed her eyes, and sighed, before lifting her right foot and putting it firmly in front of her body. Using it as an anchor, her mind took over the primitive commands and instinct propelled her out the door and down the hall.

A nagging thought happened to seize her as she drew closer to the front door of the Hospital. Sunlight streamed through the open panes that allowed patients to view the wild trees and random plants thriving unpedicured along the sidewalks.

As empty as her frame felt, and as unweighed-down as her thin body appeared, there was something that was huge weighing her down. That something, which she vaguely recollected as being ever-present, had increased in mass and was beginning to crush her with it's we-

Rian froze, nearly across the threshold as the glare from two citrine eyes suddenly caught her in their gaze.

Her body shook as Rian realized the familiar emotion in Neko-Chan's eyes, even though there was no expression in his lips, or the crinkled flesh of his nose.

His saffron ears were straight forward, meaning that he was alert. But he gave no other impressions, and did not speak.

The look in his eyes spoke everything for him.

Fear began to flood Rian like ice cold river water as her lips began to tremble with anxiety. The olive irises darted back and forth, begging for an explanation. A reason.

But, Neko-Chan displayed no emotion. There was only the unrelenting expression in his slanted, gold colored retinas.

Hate.

Rian's own eyes widened, as the feeling of failing rushed up her, making her shake even more fiercely.

Neko-Chan had gazed at her with the same demanding steel during Kimimaro's attack, when she could not carry herself any further, and fulfill his wish, no, command, that she keep running until, until-

Her arms trembling on the door, Rian swallowed the lump that had formed in her throat.

Dry breath hitched in her esophagus, making her want to cough and hack with the added, burning intensity. His eyes commanded her every attention. There was no breath, no life. There was no more air.

There was only, his approval.

"Rian!"

Breaking the horrific cycle, Rian spun on her heels as if the voice that called her name in a curt huff could save her. His eyes were still there, boring into her as she turned what attention that hadn't been melted away from the realization of his anger to the woman waving one arm and trotting down the hallway, dragging a leashed pig behind her.

Tsunade slowed, before stopping directly in front of where Rian, still trembling, stood on rail-thin legs.

The Legendary Sannin's eyebrows knit underneath the brown point on her head as her eyelids lowered in concern.

Rian, unknowingly, was staring with the same terrified expression that had enveloped her face the instant Neko-Chan's anger struck her. Her knuckles were white with the feeble strength she was pouring into grasping the wide handle to push the door open with, her wrists bent with concentration.

Tsunade tried to imagine the pain the young girl must have been in.

It had been a difficult operation from the beginning. The first thought that had gone through Tsunade's head when she laid almond eyes on the bloodied mess that was Rian's entire front side of her body, and the wide, trembling irises of Lee's tear-filled eyes as he pitifully hugged the limp body to his chest was, _This child is not going to make it._

Still, she had dunked her hands into a bucket of antiseptic and yelled commands for various medics to get the hell in and help her as she ripped the bloodied shirt from the massive wound.

Despite it's outward appearance, the reach of the damage was so horrific that even Tsunade had thought she was going to vomit from the sheer sight of it.

Inside, Rian was nothing more than a casket of seepage. Many of her organs were simply destroyed, nothing more than bloody juice with shreds of ripped body parts mixing a truly ghastly cocktail inside the container of her empty groin. Her appendix had been severed, and was spewing it's murky poison into the mélange puddle of juiced innards.

Tsunade had gasped at first sight, wishing she could just throw the shirt back over her body and simply leave it.

This child was not going to make it. This kind of injury would require massive amounts of chakra to simply begin to heal. The poisonous mixture of blood and whatever else was in there would have to be vacuumed out, and her entire digestive system rebuilt. Never mind her ever reproducing. Tsunade couldn't even calculate where the young girl's reproductive system might have been before it was utterly obliterated.

Besides that, her bladder, spleen, pancreas, and stomach were hanging in shreds from their connecting pipes. A gaping hole in her small intestine marred where the bone had entered her body. Amazingly, there was no damage to her spine, or Tsunade would have obliged to just slit her throat with a kunai and put her out of her misery.

But, she would need a massive transfusion, and putting a stasis genjutsu over her would be vital. Unless they stopped her blood flow, they couldn't start to repair the-

"I'll give her everything I've got."

Tsunade had whirled around to see a boy, dirty jumpsuit splattered in bright red stains standing amid the bustling medic interns with one arm bared, his hand steadying it's wild trembling.

"Lee." she said sharply, becoming annoyed at the distraction. "You can't-"

"I have chakra. I simply cannot mould it for genjutsu. Even still, my energy is usable and redeemable." was his glassy command.

One of his eyes was closed with swelling, and Tsunade didn't even have to look hard to see the trembling he was trying to cover up.

"Please." his voice pleaded diplomatically, his mouth parting in beseeching.

Tsunade had stared reprimandingly at the boy for a few seconds, her anger humming above the buzz of the medical personnel. Neither of their expressions changed for the sliver of precious time. Tsunade's taut, irritated purse of lips, Lee's uncaring, half-conscious and unnamable expression. Swollen, inflamed onyx affronted to dark, hardened caramel laced with dandelion-silk eyelashes.

A hand on Tsunade's broad shoulder had sent her spinning angrily, ponytails flying.

"Me, as well." came Gai's distant, authoritative voice.

Standing at his full height, Gai had bared his forearm for insertion of a needle to bleed him of his precious chakra. On either side of her stood nearly identical, giving machines, expressions steeled with concern and worry.

There had not been time for more words. Gai had instantly swept forward to catch Lee's body as the boy fainted, draping his limp body across the almost bronze of his muscled arms as they flexed to support the young boy's weight.

A medic had seized Lee's flopping body almost the instant Gai had gotten to a standing position. Tsunade instantly reached for a needle to draw the energy from Gai's arms, and immediately plunged the metal prick into the chakra coils beneath his skin.

Gai had winced. Even expressionless jounin were not immune to the pain of needles inserted into their Keirukuki.

Closing her eyes, Tsunade reminded herself to breathe, as the syringe's plastic tube began to hum with Gai's life as it was slowly drawn, like poison, from his chakra coils.

There was a solemn atmosphere hanging in a mist around them as the injection bound them, their matching faces in sharp frowns. Silence was blotted by the rushing feet and hands of the medics milling all around them, like animals in a slaughterhouse.

As if moving in a dream, Tsunade had took in the rushing breath while her hand withdrew the nearly thread-thin prick from the Jounin's sacred chakra system, her lips pinched mute while she steeled her mind for the procedure that was soon approaching, and would require every speck of medical knowledge she had.

She begged for him not to speak, within her sealing mind. But, like so many things in life, Tsunade was denied the simple privilege of the pristine, sterile-scented silence.

"It's bad."

A statement, more than a question had pealed from Gai's throat. The deep voice was dripping with sorrow, hinting the deep grief haunting his very being from within the steamy mist of their own private instant.

Looking the tall man in the face would have been too difficult. Tsunade allowed a breath to flitter out, sending her blond bands fluttering above her face and caressing her forehead and made that her action.

"Gai..

She's going to die.

Lee had screamed from across the room, thrashing and kicking in the medic's arms as the words reached his ears, and him being almost conscious.

Above the howling, Tsunade shot a look at the medic holding him a look that would have done Orochimaru's snakes shame. The young nurse immediately began to pull Lee from the small room, pouring all of her strength into trying to restrain the child.

Lee struggled viciously, as though he were being carried to his own, private Golgotha. Tears pooled in the corners of his eyes, spilling down his scratched cheeks as he rammed himself against the circle of the medic's arms, panic sending him into a wild bout of thrashing.

Gai's eyes flittered to his student as the boy was pulled from the room, but were averted from Tsunade for only the smallest moment.

Tsunade's gaze had never left the black hair of Gai's arm as she blotted cotton gauze to the injection.

Sweet locks of corn tassel colored hair had shifted, shielding the expression on the Hokage's face from the prying eyes that felt as though they were feeding the pressure directly onto her shoulders, which were already pitifully sagged by sorrow.

Gai's face had remained stoic, until he was wordlessly commanded to move himself to the adjoining room. In truth, anywhere would have been better than that quarantined, sterile room, the stench of iodine circles painted on blood-drenched flesh. Prison. The torture chair of Morino Ibiki, even.

Once he was safely out of hearing range, Tsunade had mechanically turned back to the flurry of medics stitching, clamping, healing, chakra crackling like the electrical beats of a pulse, phonemically drilling a throbbing pain into Tsunade's head.

Tsunade wondered if Rian's pain was that bad.

The terrified, wide eyes of Rian would have been suited better for a frightened baby deer, trembling as it stood, lamed before a hunter.

Shaking pathetically, Rian thought if she did not turn to Neko-Chan once more, she would crack under the pressure of his glare. It was killing her, on the inside.

Tsunade floated back to the present, bolstered by Tonton's squeals as she pulled towards the doorway, eager to relieve herself. Where was Shizune when she needed her?

"You forgot your medicine." the woman said gently, raising the wrinkled paper bag in her hand to where Rian could take it from her.

Trembling, Rian took the bag, a bit of curiosity wiping away the cat's fixed, hate-pregnant glare. Her fingers pulled the thin pieces of crumpled paper from each other, revealing a palm-sized jar of a sort of greasy medication.

"You need to put this on your stab every day, alright? It'll keep the bacteria out. The stitches should dissolve by themselves in a few weeks. Until then, try not to get poison, chlorine, or hot sauce on them.

And _please_ try to eat something, little girl. You're the right weight for a six year old, not an almost fourteen year old." was the explanation Tsunade left her with, before she straightened to her full stature.

Rian blinked confusedly, trying to piece together the words as Neko-Chan commanded every bit of her attention, leaving none for even the numb comprehension of Tsunade's condescending explanation.

Tsunade's eyelids lowered halfway, before she reached a slender palm to cup Rian's knobby shoulder. She felt the young girl visibly flinch as her hand neared the tight fabric over her thin, wasted arm, but she allowed Tsunade to turn her attention towards her.

"Listen.." Tsunade began. Rian's large, olive eyes sliding to Tsunade didn't help the woman begin her explanation any more.

"Everything from here-" The Hokage stabbed a finger a few inches below Rian's rib cage, "- to here," she said trailing her extended finger dangerously low to between Rian's legs.

"- was destroyed. Everything. Your stomach, your liver. We had to rebuild and replace half of your body."

Rian didn't look as affected, or disgusted, as Tsunade would have suspected a girl her age to be at the thought of having her body parts replaced. Well, here came the acid test.

"Some of the lesser organs, however, could not be repaired, or replaced." The teaser had been let on.

Rian gazed at her with genuine curiosity, breaking Neko-Chan's stare for a precious instant as her eyes begged the woman for a further explanation.

Tsunade bit her lip, wondering how far on this issue she should tread. Rian was actually very lucky, she secretly thought.

"-Rian, you're never going to be able to have children."

There. She'd done it. The female Sannin tapped her fingers in a pristine row, manicured ruby against the thin, light purple of Rian's tattered shirt.

This news would have been devastating to a normal teenage girl. Tsunade was still bitterly coveting the lack of feminine problems that would be plaguing Rian, and very much wanted to stick her tongue out at the young girl and point out her lack of chest, as well. The child was lucky, that was for sure.

Rian's face never faltered. She simply looked at Tsunade with a passionless, broken stare.

"N-N-Neko-Chan! I'm scared!"

"Relax, Chan. You can do this. Just listen to me."

Rian's trembling fingers grasped the sharpened kunai as she struggled to hold it at the proper angle, perpendicular to the exposed skin of her abdomen. Blood was already coursing in a river towards the drain of the bathtub, thick and prominent against the bright, unused white of the plastic.

Trembling, Rian had tilted her head until it rested against the cold tile of the wall. Her body was completely numb, and yet still jolted with life with every quiver of anxiety.

Her eyes flitted down to the paleness of the stomach she was about to-

She was seized by another violent pain, curdling in her abdomen horrendously. Gurgling, she clenched her stomach with her elbows and leaned forward.

"Do you want to feel that for the rest of your young life?"

"N-N-No.." was her broken reply.

"Than you'll do this."

Rian nodded, and forced her back straight against the tile. The kunai glinted in the bathroom light bulb, shining with an almost insane brilliance, her reflection in the anesthetic-laced point.

"Cut. Right across your stomach."

Rian boldly plunged the knife down, only grimacing as blood began to pool at the slit she dragged across her abdomen. Overflowing, the wound began to bubble over, draping a crimson curtain down her stomach, to the scant, stained shorts she wore.

The anesthetic lanced, and the pain of the open wound was dulled. The clarity of Rian's young mind was still dulled by the taboo prospect of home surgery.

"What now?" she asked, trying to be strong. Neko-Chan had told her to be strong. Otherwise, this hindrance would always be there, erupting every twenty eight days, making life impossible.

Pulsing pink organs glared back at her through the slit, throbbing as her body was taken off-guard by the numbing medication she had dipped the kunai in prior to using it to slice herself open.

"What do I cut?", she breathed, glancing worriedly at her options.

Neko-Chan mentally directed her attention to the inflamed, angry set of red, kidney shaped organs throbbing with sharp, intense pain.

Rian grimaced, biting her lip, before she plunged the knife down.

Her entire body erupted as blood exploded from the severed tube, angry inflammation knotting inside the sacred territory of her insides.

She began to scream, wretching her head back as bile burned the back of her throat. Shockwaves of hot pain burst, filling her every conscious thought, attention.

She stabbed brutally, her head turned away as she continued to spear the too-large knife through the angry tubing surrounding the slat in her narrow, curving waist. Blood coursed from seemingly everywhere, making her faint. The stench arising from her severed abdomen made her senses die to the outside world, as she hurriedly, violently, prodded at the directed points Neko-Chan had drilled her in.

Tears pouring down her cheeks, her hand fell at last, the kunai clattering to the wall of the tub.

Gasping for breath, Rian's stripes of face paint were smudged where the tears had trailed down, running rivers of salt down her gaunt cheeks. Bitter rings filled her throat as she tried to determine whether she was already dead, or still watching the ceiling spiral in her vision.

"Pull it out."

Rian thought the words were going to make her vomit. But, sobbing, she complied, dipping both hands into the slit in her abdomen. The slimy coating of the severed and bleeding organ met her fingers, and she gently hoisted the slippery sack of muck from the warmth of her body.

She immediately hurled the innard into a previously-laid out garbage bag. The plastic crumpled as she hurriedly folded the steaming organ into a layer of the bag. Once covered, her head flew backwards, knocking the tile of the bathroom wall as she howled in pain.

A gentle buzzing suddenly began to vibrate in her abdomen. She could feel her innards shifting, twisting, forming to occupy the now-empty space, like birds of prey feasting on one of their own kind.

Neko-Chan concentrated his red chakra to the severed tubing inside Rian, using his energy to heal the masochistic damage. The removed gut's connections were quickly cautered by the feline's powerful, now being used for healing, energy, which began to creep in a spider-web pattern outwards from the removed organ, healing as it crept.

Her body slowly began to shift to it's previous state. Her palpating heart began to slow, before beating it's original tempo once more. All signs of shock were being erased, as Neko-Chan repaired the damage he had requested done.

After slightly more than a minute of recapturing her bearings and lying, squashed, in the narrow slat between the wall and the side of the bathtub in a puddle of blood, red chakra began to crawl upwards out of the wound. The skin began to seal at a hurried rate, folding to cover the wound and stitching filaments of young, fleshy skin.

Rian gasped at the queer sensation, a breath catching in her throat as the tingling intensified.

A blaze of red energy leapt up from the line of slightly purpled skin, before all of the energy disappeared from the cut, leaving behind only phantom pains of the hasty job.

Her stomach had ceased it's cramping, now to be replaced by an idiosyncratic turning of nausea. Neko-Chan's use of chakra had stopped what excess destruction Rian had done to the rest of her body while following Neko-Chan's request.

Rian rolled onto her side, curling her knees as close to her chest as the walls surrounding her would allow.

Her thighs, slick with blood, slid easily across the shining bottom of the tub, the wet material of her pants hitching slightly in the swirling puddle beneath her hips.

Rian shook from head to toe, her eyes pooling with salt once more, as one hand slid between her legs, fingers clenched so tightly into a fist her palm began to bleed.

"Sshh. Shh. Hush, now, my Rian."

The droplets of natural tears dribbled down her horizontal cheeks, twirling candy-cane colored rainbows in the blood beneath her face.

"You're very brave to do what you did. Nobody else would do that when I asked. And, you did so good, Chan. Now, that pain will never come back."

Opening her eyes the smallest bit, Rian felt her stomach curdle, this time without feeling a spurt of blood, thick drip down her legs at the gentle voice of her closest companion.

"Promise?" she whispered, her voice thick with innocence and hope for her feline friend. The barely-thirteen year old had been reduced to a curled pile of silken limbs, blood heavy on her thin shorts. Dried blood ground as she kicked her legs, awaiting his answer.

"I promise. Have I ever let you down?"

Rian knew she could not nod yes, because he had not. Neko-Can had never failed her. She was sure he was right about this. He was right above everything. She had no reason not to trust him, and cursed herself for the doubt that grew in her. Perhaps they could remove that, too, in the same manner.

Neko-Chan smirked, his bright eyes slanting shut as his whiskers bent up with pleasure as he sneered at the lowly, human lump he was sealed within. Now some silly ritual of the female body wouldn't hinder their progress. Or, he should say, his progress.

"Now, you should wash all that blood off. It's late, and there's training in the morning."

Rian's eyes sparkled as a smile lit her face once more. Forcing herself up, Rian sat as straight as she possibly could for him, hoping to win more of his approval in showing him how quickly she could recover.

Neko-Chan's hearty laugh echoed in her mind, filling her with the warmth of his praise.

"That's my Rian."

Smiling, Rian reached out to the hot tap knob, twisted sharply, and watched the red wash away in a diluted torrent.

".. Yeah. I know. We removed it ourselves."

Rian was out the door before Tsunade could question her response.

----------

Lee's feet make hollow, echoing noises as his sandals slapped the concrete slabs that built up the sidewalk.

The bundle of soft, delicate petals quivered with the anxious tremble of the arm he carried them in, which he quickly weighed with his other arm in order to anchor.

Hadn't he had enough anxiety at the simple decision to purchase a meager representation of his affection? Hadn't he been traumatized enough deciding exactly what he would begin thanking his teammate with?

Lee had realized, as he waited in the room adjacent to the operating room, that he owed Rian a debt.

She had personally come in and saved his butt, to put it in terms his mind could, under the current circumstance understand. She had been there, without being asked or a second thought, for him.

She had been wounded for the sake of aiding him, when his drunken ass couldn't even determine left from right. Rian had gone up and above the call of duty for her teammate, leaping in when she didn't know anything of the enemy, or how great his rank and skills were.

Her massive injuries, had been sustained. Protecting him.

For that, he thought, she deserved something.

Much more than the fragile offering encased in the clean, pressed sleeves of his jumpsuit.

And, it was his fault.

His fault that she had come after him in the first place. His fault she had been keeping the bone Svengali at bay. His fault they had been separated within the Kayuga's death forest, and his fault she had been mortally harmed.

It was his fault.

The shame made his cheeks color, despite the light headwind blustering about merrily, teasing his raven hair from it's luminescent bowl cut on the sunny day.

He looked reproachfully at the stems of green wrapped in tasteful, if not cheerily, patterned, crinkling tissue paper. He sneered, nose wrinkling in disgust at his presumption.

What made him think this slight pile of green could ever make amends, or even begin to repay the amount he owed Rian?

He wanted to simply drop the whole shebang, stomp the traditional pile of green, run the remaining way to his teammate's apartment, knock down the door and explain everything.

He could imagine it, dropping to his knees on her front stoop, clasping one of her hands between his calloused fingers and spilling all of his feelings before her judging, surprised olive eyes. Exposing the terror he had experienced, the worry for her he had felt, the blessed barrier of friendship between them that had cushioned the blow of his own behavior, the feeling that swept over him when her lips curled into a delicate smile. The way he had memorized the light speed dance of her attacks, the way he couldn't help but notice how beautiful she looked without the ferocious stripes of red that made her appear as genuinely wild as he believed her inmost soul to be.

Or the way lines of lightning shocked his stomach every time he thought about capturing those sweet lips of hers in another kiss.

He would sit before her and spill all of his feelings, his wishes, his desires, his dreams. Beseechingly holding her thin wrist, he would beg her through the gesture to hear him, and the listen to the genuine words that would pour from his heart like a gap in a dam.

One of his ghosting hands would trail up her sweet face, for once absorbing the electrical impulses that sensually jolted beneath his calluses, savoring the green of her moss colored eyes deep enough to make him dream of brilliant colors he had never seen. He would slowly inch himself towards her, until he could once again hold her fragile form to him, as he had prayed he would be able to do just once more while he had waited the endless hours in the dim waiting room beside the operating room.

He would savor every tantalizing curve of her face, let his fingers trail through her pinfeather, field brown strands of hair, and whisper promises of understanding into her ear, warm breaths of innocent affection and the genuine love had he realized in tears the presence.

And when he had finished telling her of how he had worried for her, how he had prayed for her safety, hands clasped until blood shone on his bandages, had not been able to even think until he knew she was alright, had wanted to throw himself onto her half-conscious body and sob away all of the filth that covered him, and how much he knew, he now knew, he loved her, she, she would-

Think he was a stark-raving lunatic.

Lee tried to shake the reality of confessing his unfolding feelings to Rian.

He couldn't tell her he had given up on Sakura.

He couldn't tell her how much she meant to him.

He couldn't tell her how he wanted to just grab her and kiss away both of their fears.

He couldn't tell her how sorry he was.

There was a common obstacle standing in his way.

Shyness.

Gasping for breath, Lee tore back down the sidewalk in the opposite direction of the route he had memorized not so long ago, running as fast as he could without opening any Inner Gates. But, he was fast approaching even going that far as to escape the breathing he felt on his neck.

His knees bucked up to his chest as he heaved himself around the corner, his mouth wide in panic. Arms flailing at his sides, he tipped his entire body to balance as he flung himself up the familiar steps of the apartment building he had visited many times before. Sweat flinging from every exposed inch of his skin, drenching his collar and the crease of his underarms, his body thundered up the grimily carpeted stairs, his skin soaking in the dirty, recycled air of the cream painted hall.

Racing to the familiar door, Lee's wide eyes narrowed to his back-pedaled destination. The carpet squeaked beneath his blue shoes, untold stains darkening the matted, nearly worn away shag lining the twin halls of the third floor.

His sweaty palm wrapped itself around a golden door knob, which he used to hastily fling aside the dark green painted door. His feet hardly touched the ground before he threw himself inside the opening, slamming the door by the knob vice-gripped in his hand. His knees hit the floor as he knelt in fatigue before the bare, hairy feet of the man who had been waiting for him.

"Well, Lee. How did it go?" came Gai's cheerful question as he stood, looking down at his youthful student, hands resting on his pointed hips.

Lee's heaving back pointed out no particular response, as the dark-locked teenager clasped the gift in his arms close to his chest as it rocked up and down with panting breaths. On his hands and knees, the teenage boy forced himself to recapture his breath.

Lee choked on an intake of air, the wind hitching in his dry throat. Eyes wide, he continued to balance on his trembling arm perpendicular to the aged flooring as a cough racked his empty mouth, the dry caverns dehydrated of moisture.

Rasping breaths, demonic in their pitch, were heaved through Lee's dry esophagus. The air seemed scalding as he summoned it to his lungs, breaths of fire from a dragon's mouth billowing into his already-aflame windpipe. As much as air as he desperately sucked in, oxygen seemed to be missing from the gasps of barbed, betraying breath.

Sighing, Gai reached over to his nearby entryway table, never dropping his stylized pose before his hyperventilating student. Using both hands, he dramatically slammed a dryer bag over Lee's head, hooking the handles beneath Lee's sweat-dripping chin.

"Breathe, my precious prodigy." he coaxed, the manly voice lowering in volume in obvious sympathy for his near son as he writhed on his hands and knees.

The warm gasps of enclosed air that were captured as the boy breathed out fought their way into Lee's lungs, circulating inside him and cooling the fire inside his inflamed respiratory organ.

Once the invisible ropes around Lee's chest began to loosen, the younger Green Beast tipped backwards. His backside met the carpet, and he straightened his long legs in front of his body, spandex clinging to the rippling muscles with sweat. Relaxing his taut body, Lee fell backwards, his shoulder meeting the door.

Sitting against it, the lanky teen breathed small puffs of the cold air produced by the humming air conditioner unit, treasuring the reversal of his breath's temperature.

Tilting his head back to expose his tan throat, Lee panted, releasing the bottled warmth of his terror-ridden lungs, his chest trembling vigorously. His limp hand fell from his sweat-covered collar bone, the pressed greenery sticking to him by the sheer volume of sweat present.

Impatiently, Gai struck another pose, this time stretching his arms above his head, entwining the bare limbs and listening to the savoring crack of bone as they reached toward the white ceiling.

"Leeee? How did it go?" his voice teased sing-songedly.

Addressed teen half-closed his eyes, his mouth parting as he mentally begged not to be struck.

"I didn't make it there."

Lee grimaced at Gai's exaggerated groan, his body tensing at the gurgling noise.

Gai slapped himself in the forehead, indicating Lee's hopelessness when it came to matters of the heart.

The teenager frowned more, and closed his eyes to prepare for the lecture that was sure to come any second then.

"My Prized Pupil. How do you expect to confess your youthful love if you can't even make it the girl's house without buggering off?"

The Jounin dropped to a crouch beside his student, and raised one massive hand to drop on Lee's shoulder in a manly gesture. It always got Lee's attention.

This time was no different. Lee craned his head in the direction of his teacher, letting his dark eyes slide open to gaze upon his mentor, in all his green-clad glory.

The words seem to be in a line, waiting on Lee's tongue to be spoken, formed, tied together in a string of poetic questions. But, try as he might, he could not bring the words from between his lips.

His body stretched hopelessly before him, Lee looked with shame down at his lanky, pubescent body to give himself something else to berate himself about.

A six pack of swollen muscles bulged from his abdomen, proudly displaying his years of crunches and jump roping in a trophy, as though it were sticking it's tongue out at all the other prepubescent boys.

Hard muscled humped under scarred, flaking, caramel colored skin, covered only by the thin spandex suit that was clinging to every bulge and curve of Lee's still-forming body. Sweat-soaked, his body was traced by the scanty covering, exposing his training-pitted muscles as they rose and fell with his gentle breath.

His torso was still thin, considering that he had some weight that needed to be regained from his injuries and stay in the Hospital. But, the lack of fat was proudly trumped by the amount of hardened sinew beneath the skin-tight cloth and skin itself.

Further down, Lee really had no interest in. He had heard somewhere about girls liking a guy with a bulging cock, but he really doubted Rian (or Sakura) ever looked at his crotch. Even so, he remembered to cup his hands over his Manhood casually when young Hyuuga Hinata activated her Byakugan, lest she be scared for the rest of her life. Lee was erm, a bit on the small side, anyway. But, the book Gai had thrown at him when he had nonchalantly asked his mentor a rather adult question said that he was still growing. He would get taller, hairier, and… eh, 'bigger', as puberty wore it's hormonal course onward, ravaging his body mercilessly.

He was secretly disgusted with the way his body was changing, but kept it to himself. Gai didn't really like to talk about Lee growing up and changing, and Neji wasn't exactly the kind of guy you could come to for advice about jerking yourself off in case of an emergency. So, it wasn't like he had anybody to talk to in the first place. So, he suffered in silence, trying around the clock to keep his voice from squeaking.

Besides, Lee told himself. _Girls like the older, stronger-looking men. Makes them feel protected and more youthful in themselves._

, Lee told himself.

However, the squeak in his voice was just pathetic…

"Lee."

Gai's gentle voice, prodding and fatherlike, redirected Lee's attention to the crisis at hand.

Lee watched as his mentor's rough, calloused hand brushed up his chest, the paper around the greens slightly sticking to his collar bone making a crinkling noise as Gai's fingers fastened around the base of the arrangement, before he peeled it from Lee's chest slowly.

What had begun as a handful of daisies was now a sorry looking handful of bare stems, so drenched in sweat they were sagging in half and each flower stripped of nearly all it's petals.

Gai looked distastefully at what used to resemble flowers, a traditional gift, before holding it gingerly by the tips of his fingers and dropping it into the nearby trashcan. One valiant head still poked upwards from the depths of the can, it's two petals clashing vibrantly with the black of the bag the can was lined with.

"I remember what it was like to be a young boy in the prime of my mouth, and be in love." he said whistfully, reaching up to brush some of the raven hair from Lee's eyes.

Gai let his mind wander as he stroked Lee's forehead fondly. Drifting, he was brought back to the sunny, sleepy days of his childhood, which seemed as much as a dream of a dream nowadays.

Gai remembered those days. To him, every day seemed like summer, when he recollected the memories.

The ever-present warmth in the daydream-like memories was a comforting embrace, of which Gai could not recall from any other activity. Those days, thick with innocence, and overflowing with love, before the hardened life of a Shinobi had become Gai's path. The days of childhood were long past, but still, Gai treasured them as he would any body count or war triumph, their colloquial equals nowadays.

Lee gazed at the lost, satisfied look in his sensei's eyes as the man continued to caress his forehead, staring hollowly at him. The smile on Gai's face was becoming a bit unnerving, but Lee knew well enough that his mentor was thinking the most pleasant of thoughts. Nothing was more precious to Gai than his innocence. And that, was youth. The innocence to still have imaginary friends. The courage to walk around in clashing clothes and ignoring the lofty glances from the lofty people who felt it condescending to even look at you.

The determination to never give in, and the ability to love unconditionally.

That, was what Gai strove for. To recapture those innocent days when he could use his fingers to paint with the colors he saw in the wind, and not the metallic blood of those who were appointed his enemies. Youth lay in those precious, honey-sweet days flavored with ignorance, facadic, but Oh, so tempting.

Gai now hoped that he could glean some of his harsher experiences to aid young Lee, who was the mirror image of himself. Maybe that was why Gai loved the boy so. Lee was him, alive again in his own little Springtime of Youth, scorned and pitied, but like the sacred Lotus, rising from the ashes of the earth once again.

"I remember-" Gai began, before pausing. The big man looked into the distance, and smiled widely.

"I remember when I was twelve years old. Being my youthful self, Lee, I was swayed into the same predicament you are in, almost to an exact point."

Lee's eyebrows heaved up in surprise. Gai-sensei? Gai-sensei had been nervous about a special girl, too?

Gai continued to grin at the wall, watching the entire thing play in front of his eyes. He commentated as he watched, recalling the look of horror on Anko's face.

"I had the biggest crush in the world on Mitirashi Anko. My, god, was it bad. I couldn't even think of her without feeling like I was going to toss my youthful cookies."

Lee's eyes widened with curiosity. Gai lead by example. Perhaps he could instruct Lee as to what should be done through personal experience.

Gai looked upwards, as if siphoning his rememberings to be utilized better. Staring at the white popcorn ceiling, the elder Green Beast continued after a break in his sentences.

"I turned my crush over and over in my head for weeks. I was so nervous that I could hardly concentrate on training. It was ravaging me at all hours. I couldn't eat. I couldn't sleep. I could hardly fight."

Lee's hands began to shake. Not able to train? It must have been a horrific crush. In spite of how much he knew he cared for his teammate, Lee was only mildly distracted from his more mundane training rituals when he thought about Rian.

Suspense gripping his young mind, Lee listened in terror to his mentor's fate.

"I told myself I was being strong by keeping it inside. So, I suffered in silence. And gawd, did I suffer. Just listening to her voice was enough to make me want to just grab her and spill everything.

But, my nursing the delusion that it was making me stronger was just a cover-up, a façade for how I truly felt. Deep down, I was too scared of what she would say. I knew that love was special, and I didn't want to shatter it, because it was so fragile. I just wanted to have that pretty, tantalizing feeling every time she would stomp around near me, and admire it while I berated myself. I brainwashed myself into believing that love was another textbook happening, and I was afraid of shattering that little feeling. But Lee, the thing about love is-"

Gai gazed down at his pupil, a far away look lingering still in the languid Springtime of his past.

"That summer, Anko went with Orochimaru. When she returned, almost ten years later, she didn't even recognize me. And, even though I carried that love for her in my heart all those years, even when she was gone with Orochimaru and I didn't know if she was dead or alive, or being messed up in the head, it all just… amounted to less than a small hill of beans."

Cupping his hand to tip Lee's chin up, he stared into his student's eyes, his own two deep, brackish seas of onyx, storm-tousled waves.

"I didn't tell Anko that I loved her." He said with finality, his voice numb, as though the shock had struck him so suddenly at that moment.

His eyes were empty of their usual twinkle, as if their youthfulness had been squeegeed away, like dirt on a pane of window. Shadows replaced what light had been there, as Gai stared at Lee, more dead than he could have been if his body and head had been detached.

It didn't matter that Gai was looking right at him. His lifeless eyes spoke of the part of him that had died with the passing of a spring time like Sakura blossoms on a long trail of wind, gleefully dancing away, never to return. And when you reached out to catch it again, it died clasped between your fingers, so fragile was it.

Lee felt a tender finger alight his skin, and trace up his diaphragm, until it touched the bob of rib bone that protected the area over his thumping, bleeding heart.

"Maybe, if I had told her someone cared about her, I would have saved us both some of our pain. Maybe, if she'd had my shoulder to cry on, she wouldn't have gone to that man.

In the end, it was my shyness, my unwanting to step out of my comfort zone, my inability to step up to a challenge that left Anko with a curse seal, and me with a broken heart."

Gai's dead gaze filled Lee's every fiber as the older man brokenly focused his vision to the dark umber of his stained hands. He liked to imagine that his hands were a shade darker than the rest of his body, because they were stained with permanent crimson with the blood of the list of the enemy that had fallen by those hands. It was a nice, pretty little reminder of how he was tainted with sin, whether it was his job or whether they were all just mixed up in an insane, half-crazed world of mindless killings. Even though it hurt his heart, Gai told himself that was the reason, because he didn't want to lose the false nindo he followed, despite the rebellion movement smashing at the walls of his conscience. It was now a question of the tedium, tightrope balance between what Gai knew was right, and the insanity that threatened to take over him on a daily basis.

He'd been hearing the voices so long, in a sense, he didn't even hear them anymore.

"Lee." the voice was low, pensive, as though contemplating the words he already knew.

The small, pure attention of Lee was immediately turned to his teacher, eyes alone questioning, a hint of wonder in the sable orbs.

"If you don't tell Rian you love her now, you may never get the chance."

No goodbyes were a common occurrence in the ninja existence. Every Jounin knew, before an B, or A, or especially S class mission, you always go talk to your friends. Have a drink with them. Kiss your wife. Have a night with your lover. Kiss your children. Tell your family you love them.

Because you may never get the chance to again.

In the world of destruction and death, one casualty meant nothing to nin on either side. But, it still left catastrophic damage to the casualty's friends and family.

The chance, in the Shinobi world, of a lapse of judgment or an underhanded turning of the table, was so great that even wizened Kage did not joke in the face of it. Every Shinobi knew that when they tied their white, porcelain Anbu masks over their faces, or when they hefted their packs as they traveled to another country on an official scroll delivery mission, that they might not return.

There were long, low songs of mourning that rose from the trenches of wars, when the enemy had trampled over and marched onward to reach their objective, and hundreds of useless bodies lay shattered and mutilated, scattered like ashes of a bonfire. The songs were conducted only by the wind, and sometimes snow, their only accompaniment moans of pain. But Gai himself had heard the devil's whispers in the words of the songs. They were the last fingers reaching back to Konoha, to say another final goodbye to now shattered families.

Fare thee well, my one true love.

Gasping, parched throats vibrated with horse whispers of the songs, even as blood threatened to drown them in their actions. But no, the words had to be said. Because love was stronger than hate.

I'm going away, ten thousand miles.

Gai's eyes had watered, as he writhed in a puddle of a mix of another ninja's and his blood. The words followed the survivors, invisible tendrils of death bringing them back to the fields, long after the war was over.

If I should not return..

Gai couldn't bear to ever hear those haunting words again. And he didn't want his almost son to have to bear that kind of pain. Because, in an instant, Rian could slide between his fingers, disappearing into a crowd, hers just one in a million faces.

The rocks may boil, and the seas may burn, but I'll be back..

"You can't afford an instant." came Gai's far-off, broken voice.

Lee had yet to hear a more desolate tone in Gai's voice. He knew something troubled the man greatly.

"Go!" Gai suddenly, commanded, swiping frantically in the direction of Rian's home.

"If you're shy and refuse to confess, you may never get the chance! Go! If you really, truly love her, go!"

It took Lee less than a few seconds to scramble up and grip the doorknob. He paused, half across the threshold, to give his teacher one last gaze.

"Would you live a life not knowing if she felt the same way?" was the question that slit the air.

Lee ran down the stairs of the apartment complex as fast as the wings on his heart could carry him.

-----

The kunai knife made another dull sliding sound as it slid against the sharpener tool, which groaned through the small room that constituted Rian's dwelling place.

You're distracted.

The wall of silence had cracked. Neko-Chan had spoken first.

The way home, after she had left the hospital was deathly quiet, punctuated only by Rian's sandals as they patted the sidewalk. Neko-Chan's glare had softened to a tantalizing level, where Rian could walk and even speak if she had wanted to, but still commanding her every want, and every attention.

Rian had not made a single noise, save for her breaths and a sigh or two. She promised herself to break the vow of silence when Neko-Chan was ready to speak.

The truth be told, Rian wasn't sure how she felt about Neko-Chan. He was a companion, an aid, a love, a passion, a teacher, but most importantly, a friend.

But in the forest of bones, he had become something so different. He had been full of rage, anger. He had hated her, if only for a few moments. Their spider-web thin strings of attachment had been broken in a few moments of impatience, their virgin trust tainted by a spark of rage that had burst into angry fire.

Rian felt as though they had become separated some by the incident, as though a chasm had opened up in the ground, leaving her on one side of an abyss and him on the other.

Neko-Chan had always been so close. But one incident had thrown them apart. Rian had never known Neko-Chan to do anything but, in a sense, love her. Even though he claimed he didn't love her, (He was too high an existence to love anybody.) Rian was convinced that he secretly harbored an attachment to her.

Why else would uneasiness be smoldering inside his feline mind? She could feel his shiftiness, his annoyance, but she could not read whether he was reading her emotions in the same way.

Even so, she missed him. She did not want him to be angry with her. She couldn't bear to lose her best friend. Not now, when they were so close. Rian needed him. She loved him. She wanted him.

"I miss you." were her words. She licked her upper lip, praying for the strength to refuse his glare.

Neko-Chan tilted his head to face her, a slash of interest cutting his stubborn vow of silence. He did not even search for his words.

Chan, do you know why I'm upset with you?

Blinking, Rian bit her lip. He was upset with her?

I don't like this, either. But, do you know why I'm angry?

Childlike fear burst in Rian. Neko-Chan was angry. What if he decided to leave her? What would she do? How could she bear years of being alone in this dark, cruel-

"Why?" she squeaked, biting her lip harder. She now feared for her feline. She mentally prayed that he would stay with her. She would go on her knees and beg, if she had to. Neko-Chan couldn't leave her. He just couldn't!

Neko-Chan mentally triumphed at Rian's anxiety. Good. Excellent.

The time had come.

I'm angry because you jeopardized our relationship. How could I have gone on without you, if you had left me for another, let alone a lowly human?

Rian's mouth fell open in disbelief. Leave him? No. She had never wanted to leave Neko-Chan. Where would he get such an idea?

"Neko-Chan, who have I let come between us?" she asked, her voice rising as she hurriedly tried to think of her acquaintances, and who could have made a disparaging remark to make Neko-Chan believe-

That Lee.

Realization crested over her. Lee.

That boy has a feeling for you that's wrong. Utterly moral wrong. It jeopardizes us, because if you accept those feelings, than he will come between us. He will become more dear to you than I am.

There. Neko-Chan cocked his chin in defiance. He'd said it.

Rian tried to decipher the words in her head. What could he mean? Lee had feelings for her. What kind of feelings? How could Neko-Chan know a thing like that?

It's in his eyes. See how they sparkle when he looks at you? And when he touched his lips to yours? Those are evil sensations of this world. If you delve into them, you can never become me.

Without realizing, Rian began to shake. Those feelings, the horrific sensations when he kissed her. They were wrong, yes. But, in Neko-Chan's voice, they sounded so deep and mortifyingly sinful.

You do want to become as great as me, don't you? I am, after all, greater than any human.

As great as Neko-Chan? It sounded like an impossible dream. Neko-Chan was so wise, and strong. He knew what to say, when to say it, exactly what to do- He was brave, smart- Oh, how could she ever hope to even be like him?

"How could I do that?" she asked, wondering what she would do if she were as great as him.

Neko-Chan closed his eyes. Hook, line, and sinker.

Ignore all attachments to humans. Rian, you've made a mistake. I'm just trying to help you repair the gap in your defense you let that.. Green Beast in through. Rian, you let him into our sacred place. You can't share your affection with anybody but me.

Rian brought her hands to cover her eyes. N-N-Neko-Chan? How could she have- Their relationship was sacred. How could she have done such a thing? Let Lee invade their sanctum sanctorum in that way?

"I'm sorry. I didn't know-" she stuttered, unsure of what to say that would begin to remedy the harm she had caused him. Neko-Chan needed her love. How could she have made him even think that she loved someone more?

Suddenly, her feelings for Lee came back at full speed, slamming her with the intensity of want for an embrace, a sweet kiss, two strong arms to hold her, a body to lean against. A warm sensation that coiled in her stomach when their lips met. A passionate embrace that stole her away from the world for a few, precious seconds. The beatings of their heart against each other. That was what she wanted.

"Neko-Chan, can you love me like Lee does?" Rian questioned.

… No.

Rian didn't know what to think, in the next seconds of silence.

But, I need you to love me more than you love Lee.

The words jumbled in Rian's thought processes. Was there a way to love someone more than she loved Neko-Chan? Did she give the impression that she loved Lee more? Was Neko-Chan jealous- No, he couldn't be jealous. It was beneath him.- But, why?

The answer to her question would shape Neko-Chan's future, he knew. Giving no outer signs of anxiety, Neko-Chan waited above the buzzing of her thoughts for the answer. The answer that would prove her worth to him. In any situation, Neko-Chan was prepared. This was the night.

"I do." was the answer that rent the air.

Neko-Chan grinned, his teeth glinted maliciously as his mustard eyes narrowed.

Perfect. Very good, Chan.

Rian smiled like the little girl she was. In her thoughts, Neko-Chan was pleased, they were still friends, and everything in the world was right again.

She would tell Lee she felt nothing for him tomorrow, and end the rivalry between him and Neko-Chan. In her renewed admiration for the feline, there was no call for him to feel jealous of anybody.

Happily, she returned to sharpening her knives. The sharpener had been cutting into her hands since she had begun, leaving her fingers bloody and cramped. The cracked skin dribbled life onto the rickety table in front of her, but she seemed to give no notice. She was content in her thrill of Neko-Chan being proud of her.

This is excellent, because I have a surprise for you.

Rian's crimson-dotted hands fell to the table before her as her eyes widened. What? A surprise? Would could he mean?

Neko-Chan smiled drawlfully, his incisors shining beneath his pinkened lips.

Rian, how would you like to see me as a real cat?

Rian sat, looking wide-eyed across the one room of her dwelling.

Neko-Chan? A real cat? It seemed almost too good to be true.

A real cat that she could hold at last, and see when she talked to? A cat that she could muss the hair of, and smile and laugh with? A cat that she could embrace if her wanting for Lee should return?

"I-I don't know what to say." was all she could stutter, as a smile began to expand across her pale face.

Neko-Chan's response was a playful smile that he used as a mask for the growing smirk behind it.

Say, yes. I can still be me, and all I entail. But, you'll be able to touch me. To see me. The real me.

Rian's jaw began to tremble with anxiety. Neko-Chan's lips curled.

"Y-yes!" she cried. "Yes! What do we have to do?"

The possibilities unfolding before her made her nearly wild with excitement. Neko-Chan! A real cat! She wanted dance, for she hardly contain her joy inside.

Leaping up, she raised her hands to the walls, waving them frantically.

"What do I have to do? How can we achieve this? Where can I put a place for you to sleep once you're here? Oh, Neko-Chan! You're going to love it here! You can go to training with me, and show me new techniques, and go to the library with me to study the Shinobi arts, and we can-

Neko-Chan laughed, hard-pressed to deny himself the shrillness of his accomplishment.

In time, Rian. For now, we have to learn the technique to bring me out.

Rian slid into a battle stance, grinning leerily.

"I'm ready! I'll do whatever it takes to get you here!" she promised. Neko-Chan chuckled under his breath, and watched her stand, anticipation coiling inside her.

Now, I'm going to need your total concentration.

Rian plopped into her chair, her feet tapping with willingness. Neko-Chan smiled at the innocence.

You have to make the hand seals as I call them out, and a few other things. First, slit your thumb.

Rian grabbed one of her kunai as they both tried to contain their excitement.

For Neko-Chan, he hid behind the steady, unfounderable rock of his emotionless face. This was it. Finally, after years within Rian, he was escaping. Their symbiotic relationship was close enough, tightly threaded enough, to allow his escape from within her. He could once again gaze into the flickering of flames of a destroyed village, smoldering from his attack. He could once again fill his egotistical, nearly unsatable hunger for carnage.

He felt his stomach constrict with bloodlust as Rian slid the kunai against her thumb, a drop of crimson showing on her pink hands. Shivering, he noticed her silence while awaiting his next instruction.

Dot it on your forehead, and trace a line to directly over your heart. Circle your eyes, ears, and nose with blood, too. Connect them all to the same line.

Rian did so, feeling slick blood clench her skin as she tried to contain her excitement, her mouth a taut line. Neko-Chan continued to shiver. Dammit, faster. It had to be faster. He couldn't wait any longer!-

Now, form these seals.

Neko-Chan didn't pause for a breath as Rian's hands flew to her chest, ready to perform what she thought was a jutsu.

It wasn't.

Mi, I, Ushi, Saru, Tatsu, Mi, Hitsuji, Inu, Uma, Tatsu, Mi, Tori, Tori, I, Saru, Hitsuji, I, Tora, U, Tora!

Lee shifted his foot, his hand an inch from knocking on the door before him.

In the twilight, he listened for some sort of noise that would tell him that he should come back later, tell Rian tomorrow.

He had come to show her his feelings. He had no idea what would happen when the words finally slipped from his lips, and that frightened him enough to propel himself back home of shaking knees.

But, remembering the distant look in his sensei's eyes fueled Lee to drive his knuckles to the wood, a hollow noise emanating from the impact spot as he knocked gently, once, twice.

"Rian?" he whispered, placing his face against the door, hoping she wouldn't open it at that moment.

What could not be contained was about to be released. In more than one way.

Rian's hands shot the last sign, holding the Tora sign in front of her. Eagerness, and a feeling of euphoria blanched inside of her, fluttering against the hardness of her chakra-patched stomach.

Trembling breaths emerged from her lips as she began to glimmer with a tepid sensation. In a few moments, she could finally-

She knew at that instant something was wrong. Her feet suddenly became welded to the floor.

Her eyes darted in panic to them, only to see a gray-black kind of energy grounding them to the floor. The burning chakra, as she now recognized it, was foreign, flailing tendrils beginning to creep up her legs, it's fingers reaching to surround her calves. It felt so strange, so twisted-

Blood.

She could smell blood in the chakra. And, it's signature was, fierce- demonic, even. In shock, she panted as her numb legs became completely incased in the cloud of energy. She could tell. Something was going horrifically off of their track. This wasn't supposed to happen!

Some, something was wrong!

"Neko-Chan!" she called, her voice high with fear. What was going on? The energy, like a smoke cloud, began to clamber up her waist, making her groin spark with the sensation. It was as if the smoke was inside of her, gripping her, soaking into her to fill her from the inner workings of her body.

"Neko-Chan! What's going on!" she cried once more, feeling the chakra envelop her chest. There was a spark over her heart, before a searing wave shot up the traced line of blood. Her eyes, ears, and nose, all encircled by the drying blood, exploded as the spark of white energy surrounded them.

Rian screamed in pain as the energy zapped to the center of her forehead, where energy began to pool, weighing so hard on her that she thought her skull was going to cave in.

Gasping, she willed her head not to slam to the table as particles of light began to dance before her eyes.

Dots of color cascaded into spiral shapes, twisting and blending together as the world faded from her view.

She had the feeling of coming out of her body, being enveloped in the smoke of the black, burnt-smelling chakra.

Everything around her was becoming dark, even as she was still completely awake. She was suddenly hovering in a vacuum of blackness, a void, desolate place that she somehow grasped was in her mi-mi-mi, familiar, as if she had been there-

Grimacing, she let out a final scream as pain suddenly slashed through her, incinerating her every threshold of pain and replacing it with a new level of searing ravagement, as her groin exploded with the evil, dark sensation, for it had a purpose now.

"NEKO-CHAN! WHAT'S GOING ON!" she screamed, her shrill voice pleading for him to end the agony so intense she thought she was dying in this small, enclosed Golgotha.

As her world burst into sudden clarity, her only response was an echoing, sinister laugh.

Lee jumped as a scream echoed from within Rian's apartment. He didn't hear any of the words, only Rian's agonized, haunting scream.

Instantly, he planted a foot directly in the center of the door. Rian might need him- Something was horribly wrong! He could tell by the tone of her scream. It sounded as though she were being tortured, or horribly mutilated by-

The door cracked from it's hinges, flying across the room and hitting the wall on the other side of the apartment, with such force had it been hit.

Rian needed him, was Lee's mantra as he leapt over the threshold, scanning the room for his teammate. Numbed shock had not set in yet, which was good. He would need all of the clarity he could get.

His mouth fell open as the sight before him registered in his brain, his forearms coming up in a blocking position from habit.

Shoulders slumped, her entire body heaving with breath, stood Rian. A miasma of black, pulsing chakra surrounded her entire body, throbbing and stinking of blood and a demonic, burning smell.

Her left hand was reaching up to cover her left eye, as she audibly rasped for breath. The other hand was limp at her side. She looked as though she was dead, and standing, so limp were her trembling legs as she rocked back and forth heinously, heaving for breath.

Lee was not sure if he should approach. The energy looked menacing. But, it was surrounding Rian, so-

His thoughts were cut off as a shriek, like a demon's voice scratched the air, reverberating with fiendish flavoring so lusting, so hungry for blood that Lee could taste it on his tongue.

His eardrums began to smart from the sheer volume of the squeal. There was a hint of delight in the gnashed voice, even though it sounded as if it came from the throat of a horrifying monster.

Rian continued to stand, panting, even as the shriek of ecstasy ejected from her own mouth. Her body kept vibrating, her knees weaving so deeply that she looked as though she were going to slam her head into the floor when they gave out.

His eyes were wide as questions only one person in the knew the answers to began to fill his mind, needed to be answered. The first one leapt from his tongue, propelled by concern. He had to know-

"Rian?" he yelled, trying to make himself heard to the limp, teenage girl on dipping and bucking legs that hardly supported her.

Lee steadied himself, staring from between his white, bandaged arms at the electric, hovering, menacing chakra surrounding his teammate, trying to find out any explanation for what was going on.

A deep, demonic laugh rocked the room, making Lee step back in surprise. Rian's shoulder shook, as it seemed, she was laughing.

Lee continued to stare as the laughter began to die down, and Rian shifted her stance, standing straight and unwavering before him. Her shocked friend drew his arms back, eyes riveted to the sight before him that he still couldn't believe.

"Oh, your insipid little bastard."

Lee's eyebrows shot up at Rian's words. Not so much the words as her voice.

It was deep, echoing. Like a grown man's, instead of a young girl's. It was cavernous and devilish, and tasted of evil as it touched the air.

"It's not who I was that concerns you."

Rian looked up at Lee, a catish, tooth-filled smile that resembled the Cheshire cat's madly gracing her face, razor-sharp teeth pointing from her lips. The eye that was not still covered by her hand glared back at him dark mustard yellow, a single slash of black as her iris.

".. It's what I've become."

**A/N: Cliff hangies! Review, pwease. And look at the new pictures. And wear Dickies. (Testing my control on your minds. Word of The Week: Lot Lizard)**

, Lee told himself. 


	14. The Night Two Tails Attacked

**Author's Note: ALL READERS! PLEASE READ AND TAKE NOTE TO THIS NOTE!**

**I'm having a kind of contest for the sequel of 'Neko-Chan'. The thing is, we need a title for it. The sequel will be a multiple chapter, and will continue to tell the story of Rian and Lee's relationship as they grow older, and the family they- Ack! That was nothing. I wasn't supposed to give that to you, yet.. **

**Well, I'd like you all to at least suggest one title, even though you don't know about the content of the story yet. Just offer one in your review, at least one? **

**It's hard to believe this is the next-to-last chapter, isn't it? -is laughing at what my reader's expressions must look like-**

**Thanks. Now, read Rian and Neko-Chan's fate. I said someone was going to die, remember. Please don't throw things at me when they do. Though, I don't think any one will be sad about him dying, oddly.**

Gai's sleep-numbed hands smacked the parquet colored doors. Throwing his body against the wood, he shoved the looming double-doors aside.

Shizune's half-lidded, grateful eyes met his as she whirled across the dim room at the disruption of the silence, visibly relaxing when she noticed it was only the girl's teacher. Beside her stood Godaime Hokage Tsunade, back turned and hands folded against her sage green jacket as she stared out at the distant explosions, and in Shizune's lay a sleeping, vest-clad pig.

The handful of masked Black Ops, their eyes concealed behind white porcelain masks with eye slats as they stood in a circle around the room, nodded at Gai and each other, confirming his lack of threat, and motioned that they could relax their wire-tight guard.

Gai had fallen into a sound sleep when someone outside had begun screaming his name, followed by frantic pounding on his door by blood-dripping fists. The mangled, burned nin had managed to choke out that the Hokage requested his assistance immediately before he had slumped forward and succumbed to the massive wounds on his blackened and charred body.

Terror making his blood run cold, Gai had become a black-topped flash of green through the treetops as explosions boomed in his ears, and had been pressed to dodge the raging fire blazing through the canopy of branches.

Now he stood, his stance questioning the darkness of the office, and Tsunade's fixed attention away from him. It was awkward, to have come and not be acknowledged.

Gai strode across the office, the moonlight making shadows dance on the blood colored rug that tastefully accented the khaki paint on the walls. The Hokage had not turned her attention to him, even though she was more than aware of his presence. Her concentrated gaze remained welded to the opaque reflection of herself in the glass shielding her from the floating ashes and giving her a picturesque view of the blaze miles away from the Tower itself.

"Hokage-Sama." Gai addressed, falling to his knees in respect.

"Stand up, Maito-San." came sharply from Tsunade's rose-smeared lips.

Confused, Gai obediently clambered to his feet, his questioning charcoal eyes boring his many questions into the back of her neck.

Tsunade was silent for many seconds as she tried to compose her words correctly. She was right in her thinking that the carnage had reached Gai already, making him how deathly aware of the situation he rightly should be.

Before she could speak, however, a small gasp broke the silence.

Gai swiveled to face the noise, only to become nauseous as his eyes met two hollow, onyx pools staring wide with shock at the dim ceiling.

Gray and gasping for breath lay Lee, stretched on the temporary cot of Tsunade's own desk.

Gai almost didn't want to believe it was his student. Even as the realization slammed him from all directions, a small part of his thinking clutched the idea that the burned, corpse-like figure was an unnamed child that just happened to have the unmistakable eyebrows and shreds of green jumpsuit barely covering his incinerated body that made him appear to be his beloved almost son.

"Lee!" Gai said, sharply intaking a serrated breath as he blindly rushed to his student's side, numb shock cushioning his feet as they thudded to the carpeted floor. After racing for eternity through the dark tunnel of his own firing and refiring thought synopses, Gai's hand reached something so cold it didn't seem human at all. Lee's clammy, frozen forehead, was as cold as a concrete floor, the skin ashen in the darkness of the unlit office.

Shockwaves of realization burst in Gai's mind as he unconsciously began to massage the white flesh in a futile attempt to stimulate the arctic skin of his dearest student. Unaware as he was, he nearly choked on a sigh of relief when Lee's glazed eyes slid over to him. The ash white boy seemed to recognize his mentor, for his cracked lips began to mouth a mute string of sentences, his lidded eyes begging for the dearest man to him to hear his words.

Gai's eyes drifted down his pupil's dirty, charred body. He wished he hadn't, as his vision tunneled to the horrific damage he could make out.

Lee's heaving chest was bare, angry, raw flesh showing pink flecked in the dim light. Hastily-stuck patches of synthetic skin covered his ribs and torso, indicating that he had been burned badly.

The shreds of jumpsuit that weren't burned away were bunched at the boy's thin hips, fingers of blood creeping from his abdomen, a large splash of red, leaking life over his groin, stretching to between his thighs. His knobby knees clacked together as he shivered in the coolness produced by the air conditioner unit in the corner of the office. One sandal was gone, the other burned in half, melted blue rubber only minimally encasing his scratched, bloodied foot.

His neck was lined with finger shaped, purple blots of bruises, the flesh severed in several places, as though an animal's claws had slashed across his tanned throat several times.

Someone. Had done this. Someone who would die.

Lee's mantra of breath slowed, his heavy lids lowering over the dark, glassy eyes, before his head tilted to the side and his consciousness was mercifully taken from him.

Unable to think clearly, Gai gathered his student's shoulders in one arm, cradled the lustrous black head of hair in the other hand and pulled Lee to his chest. Trying to hold his tears in, he whispered promises into the cold ears, trying to warm them with his panic-laced exhaling as he rocked back and forth gently, more comforting himself than the limp teenager he was holding to is chest protectively, as if to block the pain, the evil, the, the- God. What had done this?

Lee made a gurgling groan into his teacher's shoulder. Only than did Gai realize that his Jounin vest might be scratching his open wounds.

Although it pained him, he gently set Lee's limp body back against the blanket tossed over the desk, his hands brushing the worn softness of the used cloth as he released the teenaged boy. With a sigh, Lee's head rolled, sleep taking him away from the pain ravaging his shock-worn body.

Stepping back, Gai felt as though every Anbu agent's eyes were directly on him. Judging him. Questioning him when he had no answers himself.

He willed himself to concentrate on the rise and fall of the sweet, caramel-colored chest so that he could anchor himself enough to make an understandable noise that wasn't a stream of screaming sobs.

Tsunade had heard Gai and his student's interaction. Her eyes closed in sympathy and understanding as a sigh escaped her lips, as confined as the traditions of Konoha.

Shizune gazed at her bare feet, eyes darker with compassion for Gai and his horrifically injured student.

Even Tonton let out a troubled sigh in her sleep, as though the horrific events had soaked into her dreams.

"Who.. Who has done this?"

Gai's mind immediately began to pool thoughts of revenge. Anger coupled with the worry, evolving into utter hate with each restrained breath that broke through the heaviness of Lee's comatose state.

How he would kill the man who had done this to his student. How that man would wish he had never been born, let alone set a finger on-

"Your little girl student."

All thoughts suddenly fled from Gai's mind, as though someone had punctured the reserve of his mind.

The world became a spinning, dark vortex as Gai stood, his eyes welded to the darkness over Lee's chest as it rose and fell in the moonlight.

Rian? Rian had done this?

His first bubble of deliberate thinking shot back a "Did not." Rian, Rian acted like she- The girl would- She could never- His mind went to complete blankness as he still attempted to dishearten the words away.

Oh, how he wanted to ghost his hands up Lee's face again, take the sweet young face in the palm of his hands, and reassure him that all would be well.

But Gai had forgotten how to move, let alone think. He could only stare, and stare and stare and stare and attempt to flail for some handhold of understanding, grasp of the situation.

One of the Anbu crossed the few steps towards the numb, and unmoving Gai, who had forced his outward appearance to be steeled, and appear rational, despite the floundering concealed within his mind.

Tsunade gave the operative a tested glare, and the masked Shinobi withdrew a scroll from his pocket.

Holding one end of the unsealed scroll, the gloved hands gently unwounded the crisp, aged paper, unseen eyes searching the short spool for the correct segment.

Finally, the man flipped the parchment around, letting Gai's eyes fall on the smudged ink of the picture engraved into the paper with onyx liquid.

Gai could not understand the picture that met his eyes, in many ways.

In time-consuming slashes of ink was outlined the image of an obviously huge, demonic-looking cat creature. It's body was loose, as though it were made of chakra or energy of some sort. A fireball-appearing puff emerged from it's open mouth, between horrific-looking fangs that nearly jutted from it's mouth, had it been closed. Two massive tails flailed behind it's body, one curled, the other loose to stretch like flames into the background of the picture.

The Jounin blinked, and concentrated harder on the scratches of black, trying to tie it to something he had ever seen before in his entire life.

He had not.

"That, Maito Gai, is the Nibi." Tsunade's voice came, taut with stress and lack of sleep.

Gai whirled to face her, the Black Op still baring the scroll in front of his face.

"As in, the Two Tailed Beast?" his incredulous answer came. What did that have to do with Lee's injuries? Was that all he had been called here for, after all?

A slight nod of Tsunade's head was offered, before her voice, crisp and heavy, came once more.

"Hai. Nibi, the Two Tailed Nekomata. One of the Tailed beasts that has ravaged our nations in the past."

She finally whirled to face him, her eyes half-shut as she recited the speech she had composed awaiting the two children affected's sensei.

"The Nekomata is a huge, two tailed immortal, composed of an aura of purple chakra. It was thought to have been sealed inside a statue of the Death God, it's legendary owner. Unfortunately, the Death God has no control over **this **Nekomata. _Nobody _has control over this Nekomata."

Gai did not understand, still. He felt as though Tsunade were leading him on, into the rip current of panic that threatened to crest over him as he stood, trying to make out the picture blurring in front of him.

The Hokage turned away from him once more, trying to keep her concentration on the dim blazing of wildfires started by the creature that could destroy everything Konohagakure knew and loved.

"Tsunade-Sama." Gai's impatient voice came, even if it was broken by some of the panic and confusion leaking from his cracked, fragments of thoughts.

"Why have I been summoned here, and what does this have to do with my two dearest students?" he questioned, deadpan. He half wanted to take back the words and replace them with a kinder, more relaxed tone, but everyone's nerves were too frayed to notice what might have been taken as hostility in calmer times.

Tsunade didn't seem to notice either. She blinked her walnut eyes at the carnage unfolding only a mile away from the very pane of glass she stood behind. Words did not come easily when you had to tell someone that he would likely lose two of nearly his own children in one night. But, duty required that she speak, and Tsunade commanded herself to stop running from the words, or her feelings any more.

"Lee was the first victim of what will become a war against yet another of the Biju."

Gai blinked, before the picture that had been displayed to him and the peculiar events occurring in the night below the sheltered enclosure of the pristine office clicked in his head.

"Where is my other student?" he asked immediately. Lee would be heartbroken if Rian was hurt, or even, even-.. He refused to think of such a fate for Rian. He adamantly swore severe chastisement for the doubts bubbling like lava as they attempted to worm their way into his thoughts, just like he never questioned Lee's fate, even as the boy lay burned and bleeding and God knows what else on a _desk_ by his side.

Still, panic stretched it's seductive fingers to Gai and wrenched it's hold on him. Worry began to flood him, for both Lee and Rian. It was than that Gai began to undertake a portion of the Hokage's original fears, and fear for the whole Village. Kyuubi's attack had nearly destroyed the entire village. Could they bear the destruction that was sure to be created, and possibly the loss of another Hokage, let alone yet another Jinchuuriki on their hands with this new disaster?

"I asked, where is she!" he roared, his tone unmatched for anger or frustration. Seething, he clenched his fists and began squeezing the rage into his palms. He was sure that the bone in his hand would break if he held his fists tighter.

Shoulders vibrating with rage, Gai stood pensively, his posture alone defying the Hime Kage. But, more than anger was the fear in his eyes. That was what Tsunade knew was present, even without looking.

The news had to be broken.

Faster than she could, Tsunade had reached Gai's side and was looking at the still-bared picture of the Nekomata No Nibi, as the kanji in the corner of it's section of the scroll declared it's designation.

Gai drew in a sharp breath as Tsunade exhaled, before she detachedly forced herself to utter the next words.

One of her painted nails scratched up the soft, aged paper, before scrutinizing a few dots of ink that constituted a small, human form encircled by the same energy depicted around the Nibi, standing on the ground between the Nibi's front feet.

"There." she said simply.

She felt the confusion radiate from Gai and begin to prod her with thousands of questions even she didn't know the answer to. Konoha was going to war, and she was already at her limit of knowledge. But, the phrases slid from her lips with the ease of a greased jar lid.

"He's a clever bastard, this Beast. Even though it's one of the weakest Biju, it triumphs all of the other Tailed Beasts in one area. Intelligence. Anyway, she has somehow been overtaken by the Neko from the inside-out. In essence, he's somehow gotten inside her mind without a sealing Fuinjutsu, and has switched their places. She's inside her mind, and he's controlling not only her body, which is used to _project_ his real form, but the body of chakra that makes up his true shape. Now, she's simply the container for controlling his huge, chakra form."

She turned to the desperate, pleading eyes for which she had no help to offer, even as she watched realization begin to drip over them.

"Your student will likely die a vessel of evil." was all she had to give, in a formal and heartless tone.

It didn't even begin to be enough.

* * *

The grass around Rian's foot smoldered as her sandal touched it, the chakra around her foot eating like acid at the dried stalks. Another jolt of electricity shot down her numb leg, and she moved the foot forward, leaving a bubbling pile of molten weed in their wake.

Buzzing, hissing chakra spat as it sizzled around her other foot as it pulled her forward another step. Rian wanted to believe it was her willpower, and not the body she wasn't attached to any longer weakening under the strain of maintaining the towering pyre of purple flames that twisted into the body of the Nekomata walking above her.

"Walk faster, bitch." she heard herself hiss, her yellow eyes brightening with the lust for more destruction.

Except, it wasn't herself. Neko-Chan's once comforting voice had been replaced by the demonic, scratching rasp that issued from the mouth of a body that resembled her. Was her. But she wasn't inside of.

Looking around once more in panic, Rian observed yet the same thing she had seen in frantic hope of a desperate escape.

Black. All around her, in twisting columns, like smoke rising from the ashes of an extinguished fire.

The atmosphere was desolate, as if one had stepped into a cold spot in a haunted house, and a phantom's fingers were trailing up and down your spine. More over, Rian was numb and freezing, what remained of her thinking scrambling to reason with this horrible twist of fate. Her seemingly-ethereal limbs shook, even though the feeling never graced her fragmented mind.

The emptiness was playing tricks with her eyes and nose, making her believe she saw a figure moving to the left side of her, but when she turned, it was gone, or make footsteps thunder towards her, but when she covered her head with her arms, they faded off into the distance, if there was any.

Her perception of time and space was skewered. How long she had been inside this torturous loophole between what existed and what did not, she had no idea. She could have been there days or minutes, but had no idea.

Neko-Chan, what is going on? she pleaded, her voice echoing through the vast arc of the cavernous space that lay before her. Sobs building up in her throat threatened to bubble into her frantic cries, but some built-in law of Shinobi kept her from screaming out loud as her Village and the nearest people to her were destroyed before her eyes.

Rian's outer body grinned at the frantic plea surfacing inside his head. Neko-Chan was gone. Replacing his facadic mask was the true face he had guarded behind teacherly tasks and companionship for years, in front of Rian, two Hokage, and an entire Village's noses.

He had hidden, and hidden, and hidden inside of Rian's mind for ten miserable years. And now, he was getting a romp outside the prison walls of Rian's cramped, human mind.

"How does it feel, little one?" he teased, using his pet name for her, as though she were a cheap whore begging for his touch. He ceased their slow progress forward, making Rian's body stand behind the barrier of flaming chakra so strong that it burned the ground where the two stood, melting a pool of molten earth to scorch her small feet where she stood against her will.

"How does it feel to be helpless and cramped into an insignificant mind for years? How does it feel to not have any control of the outside world, when you're so, so above all of this shit! To be confined in the mind of a weak, nose-wiping little bitch, while all you want, all you want is-"

Neko-Chan's eyes followed down Rian's arm, to the forearm splotched with cinnamonny sweet blood, metallic and tanging at the taste that had rocketed him into a frenzy.

"- Blood." the word slid from his tongue, dripping with unsated lust that had lain dormant for much too long.

The Nekomata had arisen once more. And only death could sate his anger.

Rian whimpered and curled her head into her stomach, covering her head with her hands.

This wasn't Neko-Chan. This was a monster! There was a monster in her body, and it had somehow banished Neko-Chan, good and loving Neko-Chan, somewhere far away from her.

She wanted to demand that this creature release her neko friend, if not her. She wanted to cry and scream, pounding against the wavering walls of the prison she was sealed inside. She wanted her blood to flow and sate the lust of this, this monster. She wanted him to stop forcing her forward, towards Konohagakure, in what would be the destruction of the entire village. Rian could picture, taste, feel the hardened longing, for carnage and rampage that edified the very core of this, this beast.

All the monster was was the solidification of annihilation, built on the foundation of blood-lust and hate. Dark hate, and destruction. Demonic in it's intensity.

But, this was Neko-Chan.

There was no denying the matching chakra signatures.

The thought made her want to cry out, and plead her feline friend that she loved with all her heart to stop scaring her, and drop this whole act so they could go home and get ready for training tomorrow.

Maybe they would talk about her teammates, or discuss a new technique. Maybe they could play chess, with Rian moving the pieces for the presence of her friend within her mind as his mustard colored eyes scrutinized the black and white board.

Or maybe she would die tonight.

Dourly, Rian watched the last of her hope float away on the fingers of an imaginary wind, dancing away until it could no longer be seen.

Letting a sob peal from her throat, she curled into a fetal position, praying for death as tears squeezed uselessly from her olive eyes.

Death would help her escape the bondage in her own mind, the torture of the desolate cold spot in which she writhed. It would be her only escape, her only comfort.

Neko-Chan had betrayed her. Her closest, dearest friend, had not only betrayed her, but was now putting her life on the line, her village's, her friends-

She cried aloud, remembering a flailing arm of chakra shoot out and strike Lee in the groin as she watched in horror, an instant before her body threw itself, against her will, onto the shocked body of her screaming friend.

Oh, the screams. Lee had screamed the entire, horrific seconds that Neko-Chan had straddled his hips, slashing the enormous claws that now ejected from Rian's knuckles, gripping his silken throat until dark bruises appeared where her, her fingers, her fingers had been. He had screamed, and gurgled, and begged in turn, as Rian slowly, slowly, siphoned the life out of his thin body.

Neko-Chan's chakra had eaten away at his green bodysuit, leaving tanned patches of skin showing through long enough for Neko-Chan to ram his claws into the bare flesh as if it were target practice.

Lee had writhed underneath her, twisting in futile attempts to throw her off of him. What was worse was, that Rian had still felt her own body, even as Neko-Chan controlled it. She had felt him, wriggling and thrashing frantically while she perched on his stomach. She had felt her hands ghost up and down his body, leaving jagged lines of severed skin in sown lines dangerously low on his groin, shivers echoing up and down her back as she traced curly cues of blood with a single claw into the soft skin of his muscled stomach.

And worst of all, Rian had felt herself, when the damage had nearly been completed, bend down over Lee's heaving chest and capture his mouth in a salty kiss of death.

His mouth had been parted as he tried to pull oxygen into his lungs, and Neko-Chan had seized that opportunity, siphoning the feeling directly to her. His tongue had been slick, and had tasted penny-sweet of coppery blood. Her hands had braced on either side of his cracked and bleeding skull as Neko-Chan gave him the most vicious kiss Rian had ever experienced. A kiss of death. A goodbye kiss.

A clash of teeth and tongue later, she pulled herself back, her face holding a smug smile that Lee read with disbelief evident in his charcoal orbs. Rian had gazed at him, desperately pleading in a small voice. It wasn't her. She would never hurt him like this. How could she make him understand?

She had screamed at him the entire beating Neko-Chan gave him. She had yelled to him that it wasn't her, that he had to understand, that, this, everything- Neko-Chan, and how he had deceived her, and how she wasn't supposed to love Lee, but she did anyway. That she couldn't keep her mind from drifting over him during the day, and that at night, she lulled herself to sleep by pretending she was cuddled against his chest, safe and loved. That she would trade places with him in less than a heartbeat. That her heart was breaking as she watched her destroy him, confused and alone inside the outside of her own body. That she loved him. She loved him more than life itself.

But not a word of her confession came through. Neko-Chan's mouth remained a rigid smile, punctuated only by his fangs as he stood triumphantly over the stabbed, bleeding body of Rian's dearest friend.

And than she had left, spiriting Rian away with nothing more than a hiss and a whisper of chakra.

Rian had been too numb to prevent Neko-Chan from commanding them forward. Trauma had made her eyes empty of what spark of determination to escape this horrific twist of fate she may have had.

Lee was dead.

Neko-Chan had made sure of that, by spinning Rian around and sending a ball of chakra blazing from her mouth. The flames had shot the distance between a horrified Rian, who was watching the world spin and tip wildly as the gush of fire ejected from the lips that were still sweet with Lee's blood, to the battered, bleeding form who was only beginning to rise from the ruins of the wall he had been slammed against-

Rian had clenched her eyes shut, nausea threatening to make her lose her last meal as the sound of fire meeting flesh bit her ears, echoing inside her mind. Her every thought was filled with Lee's scream, as his flesh began to bubble, searing waves of pain engulfing him as his entire body went ablaze with the orange flames.

Neko-Chan had turned, smiling, and walked his container away with hands folded behind her back. He slowed her pace enough so that she could hear the agonizing screams of her name as Lee writhed, his skin burning as he fell to a heap on the ground, from where Rian was sure he would never rise.

Even though he hadn't set a finger of Konohagakure yet, Rian silently stuck her tongue out at the hypocritical population that lay mildly prepared for their uninspiring destiny.

She knew.

Neko-Chan had won.

She had no will to resist him any more.

The only thing that mattered any more was gone.

Without Lee, life was not worth the pain, the struggle, the heartbreak, or getting back up again.

Life wasn't worth living any more.

Too numb to cry, Rian lay as though paralyzed in the dank, hollowed place in her own head as her feet crashed towards their destiny. She prayed, with every step, that her body would drop from the strain of maintaining the neko's huge form, and-

"This is where you get off."

Rian's head jerked up at the flicker of hope in the words. Could he mean-

Life is not worth living anymore.

She scolded herself for believing even for an instant that her life could go on without the dearest friends to her. Lee was dead. Neko-Chan was- was..

"You'll live." Neko-Chan hissed, Rian's lips curling into a knife-blade smile. Her dark yellow eyes twinkled as her feet slowed their progress once more, until they stood, triumphantly looking down from a cliff above The Village Hidden In The Leaves.

"You'll live, until I decide you should die. But now, I don't want to play with you any more."

Rian's eyebrows rose at the bold, immature words. Play with her? The words spun like leaves in a stream, before they finally drifted into words that coexisted as a meaning sentence.

Was that all I was to you? A toy, to be played with, until you no longer wanted to use me any more? she asked, her words ricocheting through the beams of the yawning chasm around her.

Neko-Chan's eyes narrowed in disgust at the petty question in Rian's grief-filled voice.

"You stupid bitch. In all I taught you about never trusting people, you never once suspected I was a little strange?"

Rian winced at her own, spitting words.

"This is why you are no longer of use to me. You're a coward and a fool. You never once questioned me, and I was your greatest enemy of all. What kind of Shinobi are you, that you couldn't see this larger picture, and what really endangered you, and your allied village?"

She had never suspected him. Never. She wanted to tell him that even Hokage needed alliances. Someone to trust. Friends. Acquaintances.

But not a word escaped her quivering lips as Neko-Chan grandiosely rambled on.

"As myself, I am far above you. To even entertain that your life was anything more than a plaything for me would do you more honor than you deserve. You are but a lowly gutter whore. A cheap whore, who wants only trust. Petty emotions, like love. Love won't make you stronger. It weakens you. But, you gave in to lust. The second your lips met that boy's, you were tainted. You will never be a great Shinobi."

The next words he chose were like the steps to Shishirendan, each more painful than the last, until the climax of a smash into the ground abruptly brought wrath of broken bones.

"You will never make me proud."

Slash.

"You will never be anything worth keeping."

Punch.

"You killed your best friend, and lied to your nearest."

Kick.

"You betrayed _me_."

Stab.

"And now, I hate you."

… And there was the blood.

"I hate you, Rian. You were never worth anything to me. I never loved you."

Rian was grateful that her body was pressed against the ground, because her knees bled away, and the world became a whip of ice needles that stung her in the back when she least expected, like a flurry of shruiken.

Hated.

Neko-Chan.

The.

Only.

One.

She.

Still.

Had.

Hated her.

The sudden, startling realization she thought she had come almost to grips with cracked what bonds to sanity that remained, as the words buried themselves in her thinking, branding themselves in white-hot letters in her thoughts.

She couldn't cry. Not a single tear. Not even as everything shattered around her.

In the moment before Neko-Chan gave her a parting shake of head, and prepared to release her useless form, Rian was motionless, in mind and body.

Her thoughts were petrified to the words, even as the worlds began to detachedly meld as she drifted back into her own mind, Neko-Chan beginning to wane in her vision, as a strange type of fatigue began to descend over her.

She jolted back to her own body without changing a thought. Her face melted into her traumatized mask, as the symbiotic energy between them strained.

And suddenly, it broke.

Rian was hit with a rush of a snapping cable, stumbling backwards from the force as an enormous weight lifted from her. Staggering backwards, she felt as though an astral force were drawing her back. She scrambled to catch her balance, as the edge of the cliff they stood above leered hungrily at her feet, which exploded in pain as her senses began to stab at her from all directions.

The bond between Rian and Neko-Chan had been broken. They were now separate entities.

Neko-Chan watched the mere dot of Rian's head hundreds of feet below him stray toward the edge of the crumbling rock structure. His face was locked in masochistic amusement as he watched her dance toward the edge of a surely deadly plunge. His toy was going to give him one more show before he locked her away.

Rian finally felt her legs strengthen beneath her, knees locking to support her weight-

And before she could sigh in relief, gravity tugged sharply, commanding her downwards.

Rian felt her stomach turn a complete flip as shock coursed through her small body. In an instant, she was free-falling towards her death, watching the rocks that had held her seconds before crumble at her sandals.

The ground rushed sharply to meet her, and Rian could feel it's eyes leering at her back. Her gaze locked upwards, where all she could see was the face of the monster she had once loved grow smaller and smaller, as he towered above her, watching happily as she plunged.

At that moment, Rian died.

She didn't hit the ground and break into a million pieces. No. She died in a more important place.

Neko-Chan was no longer her companion. Lee was dead by her hands. Neko-Chan would destroy her village.

She died on the inside.

Her head snapped sharply backwards as something rammed into her, breaking her fall. She hoped desperately that it was the ground, even thought the flame burned that it was not.

Dead to the outside world, Rian folded limply into the arms of the Shinobi as he blindly leapt from his hiding place in the dark crevices of the shadows of the leaves.

Grimacing, the face behind the white Anbu mask contorted into a determined frown as he gripped the limp child to his chest, his free hand searching at his side as they now plummeted towards the cavernous abyss beneath them together.

Neko-Chan's scrutinizing eyes did not widen or narrow at the interference. It was a better show, a play for his entertainment, if two bodies smashed the ground together.

Smile widening, he watched as the two bodies fell to meet their fate.

The Black Op's hand shot from his side, flinging a kunai at the rock wall to their front. The knife shot with deathly speed, twanging as it punctured the crumbly sandstone. It would hardly do for an anchor, but a devious ninja could come up with an escape from almost any situation.

String began to unwind at a frighteningly rapid rate from the spool at the ninja's side. One end was knotted around the kunai's eye, the other unwinding itself at the nin's side.

He was putting two lives on the mercy of the thin, Shinobi-strong thread. A cord no less than a hair's width separated the man, and the child clasped in the elbow of his free arm, from death.

Putting his last hope into that thin string, the large man gripped Rian around her small waist, locking his hands in the grip commonly used in a Lotus attack at her lower stomach. He closed his eyes to the worn indigo sky fading above him, his last sight before the string went taut how brilliant the stars looked.

Gai twisted the instant the string snapped from their combined weight, throwing himself head-first at the ground. They had slowed in descent, and now only remained a minimum of forty feet above the scant, inviting solid of the ground beneath them.

His Anbu mask undid it's ties around the back of his pitch black head of hair, the yellow strings fluttering as the porcelain continued to plummet at a slightly faster rate than Gai and Rian.

Gai whipped himself into a standing position, switching Rian to his other arm as they continued to fall.

Gai had focused on Taijutsu for most of his life. His chakra control was minimum for a Jounin, and had dwindled even than with lack of use.

But, this was not the time to argue with his abilities. Gai's hands whipped into a summoning seal, Rian limply folding against his bent elbows.

Faster, faster. His hands flew to the set of seals as the feet they had left before the ground met them ticked off, like a stop watch.

Thirty five. Inu. Twenty five. Tori. Twenty. U. Fifteen. Mi. Ten. Inu. Five feet-

Smoke exploded in a vast shockwave, curtaining the falling forms as they plunged into the miasma, continuing toward their deaths on the unforgiving ground.

The Anbu hiding within the leaves around the landing spot ignored the spectacle of Gai's heroic leap, and the fate of the Green Beast, who had willingly, if not surely, sacrificed his life to save his student's. Their eyes were riveted to the flames of purple chakra stretching into the faded lapis sky.

Neko-Chan looked towards the horizon, the sizzle of his energy the only noise within his ears, before turning away from Rian and Gai's plunging site, and walking away gingerly on his four paws.

The smoke that surrounded what would surely be the remains of Gai and his student began to waft away, dissipating into silver tendrils, reaching towards the sky so brilliant above them. Such beauty, in a time of such horror. It was ironic, in a sick kind of way.

The swirling barriers of haze floated back, separating to reveal the concealed forms that had smashed the ground with such an impact as to shatter the nearest bones to the hard, awakened ground.

Gai's shoulders heaved, his hands still locked into the last sign for the jutsu, head bent horizontal to his molded fingers. Rian shifted lifelessly in the crook of his elbow.

Beneath Gai's feet, his newly summoned turtle, Nindaime, turned to face the broken Green Beast as blood began to pool inside Gai's sandals.

Summoning Nindaime had broken most of the fall, and spared the teacher and his student their lives. But, it had come at a terrible price.

"Where did the Nibi go?" one of the Black Ops whispered out loud. His comrades did not turn to him. They did not have the answer to his question, so they remained staring at the space the cat had once occupied, as though it would return.

Nindaime carefully lowered Gai to the ground, so that a small step was all the Shinobi would have to take to lower himself to the ground.

Gai's feet, ankles, and calves had been shattered from the fall. Where there had been bone was now only splinters, shattered tantalizingly enough to feed him the ability to stand, but enough that the shattered limbs left a puddle of blood in the grass behind him as he did.

The pain was unbearable. Gai would have cried out for amputation, if he could. He felt like screaming and falling down into the puddle of his own life. But he did not crumble, the deadweight of his student in his hands.

The answer to the young Anbu member's question came as Tsunade stepped out of the darkness, shadows splashed across her burly figure.

"The cemetery."

Every masked Shinobi present whirled to face the female Sannin as she stood amongst them, flaxen locks undisturbed and as solidly set as her face, which appeared to be made of rock.

"What?" a Black Op to her flank asked incredulously. A murmur of question rose from the leaves of the dark ferns, and elephant ear plants that sheltered Konoha's most qualified assassins from Tsunade's direct line of view.

She knew what the Nekomata was planning, and they had to stop him before he reached the bone yard. Otherwise, Konoha had no chance.

She took a slow breath of the cool air to summon her sentence, before turning to the dozens of eyes watching her for a reaction.

Gai reached one hand to cradle Rian's head in his palm, before he burst off running on his broken legs, leaving bloody footprints in a trail after him as Rian stirred against his chest.

"The Nekomata can control the dead."

* * *

"The Nekomata can animate the dead by summoning them with his front paws, or gesturing with either of it's tails. This undertaking ability is especially traumatizing if the Neko decides to command a deceased relative of it's disputed enemy to haunt the person he is angered with. The Nekomata has even been known to command the skeletons to dance for his amusement. The dead are also excellent for backing up an attack on a village, as demonstrated in one attempt on what became the Hidden Sand Village, in which the Nekomata was defeated by the than-free, unsealed Kyuubi. Since this form of resurrected militia are, quite literally, walking dead, they cannot be killed, and their bones can be summoned back into a skeletons if torn apart. Apart from it's undertaking abilities, the Nekomata's body is composed entirely of chakra, which is incinerating at the touch. It can also breathe fire from it's mouth, making close-range attacks nearly useless. All in all, the Nekomata No Nibi must be regarded as a highly reprehensible enemy to face, and a single appearance, as the ancients believed, is almost a sure omen of death."

Growling, Tsunade chucked the book across the room and dropped her scowling head into her hands. The manuscript hit the wall with so much of Tsunade's chakra augmented strength behind it that the corner broke through the wall. No one in the room seemed to notice Tsunade building up for a tantrum, her lips pursed into a thin, taut grimace as her eyes narrowed sharply with thought.

The foursome had gathered in the apparently lost back rooms of the Hokage's fortress, which consisted of libraries of scrolls collected by the Nindaime, Yondaime, and so recently departed Sandaime Hokage.

They had searched the dusty, carefully organized shelves, until one had turned up information about the different Biju, from what information had been gathered in the past about similar attacks. Perhaps the wisdom of their fathers could give them some idea of what they were facing.

So far, all that had been yielded from all of their searching was the manuscript Tsunade had just read an excerpt aloud from. The description made the Nibi sound like a tourist attraction, not a potential Grimm Reaper stalking towards the Village with an army of the undead.

Tsunade let out a frustrated sigh, before plunking her head against the table in front of her in defeat.

Shizune's expression spoke the concern she felt. The woman turned to the pig still sound asleep in her arms, lowering her head as if she were guilty of releasing the monster.

Aoba and Genma, Tsunade's right hands, were gathered, slumping languidly in their chairs. Genma's senbon rolling and clicking against his teeth was the only sign of nervousness the Chuunin betrayed. Both Aoba and Genma were both thinking desperately, but were almost as lost as Tsunade in this matter.

Gai had been tranquilized the instant he had rushed through the doors of the buzzing hospital. A wide-eyed Rian had been dragged from under him as he fell onto his face on the ground. He had left a path of blood from the front door to the emergency room as the medics had hurriedly pulled him onto a gurney and rolled his sleeping body into the back for immediate attention.

Tsunade glanced up. The same wide, traumatized eyes were staring brokenly at her, inhumanly olive orbs staring right through the now troubled Hokage.

Rian's body was numb, but she had somehow managed to follow the Hokage, once Tsunade had seen to it that the Neko's former container was unscathed. She had brushed her hands over the spines of the painted scrolls, looking, but more lost in thought than anything else.

Tsunade would be treating her for shock, once this mess was all over.

"How the hell are we supposed to defeat a Tailed Beast! Our forces are still recovering from the Sound's Camisado. We don't have enough manpower to charge it, let alone the army it's probably creating of our own dead! We- I can't-"

Tsunade's head fell defeatedly into her cupped hands. She wasn't prepared to be Hokage. They needed a real leader. Not a stand-in. Konoha was in grave danger of a deathly attack, and their under-prepared Kage had no idea how to lead them to even a semi-victory.

Tsunade had never felt more useless in her life.

This was just screaming 'photo opportunity'. She continued her resignation, albeit muffled by her fingers.

"If Sarutobi-sensei were here.. " was the whispered lament that cost her hardly a whisp of air.

Suddenly, Tsunade pushed her back to her chair. Her face was pinched with defiance. The title of Hokage was an honorable position, given of respect. Konohagakure had trusted her with a sacred task, and she would not let them down. With her dying breaths, she would keep the promise she had sworn to on the day she stood before the entire population of Konoha, the billowing curtains of the shielded hat fluttering around her ribs below the glorious sunshine, crazy bright with promise for the fragments of the country who needed more than a leader. All of them had also needed hope.

Tsunade was their hope. And their only hope now.

There wasn't time to question her ability.

"Aoba, send the fastest messenger we have to Suna. Have the Kazekage send backup of his strongest Shinobi forces. We'll put them on the back lines, so their damage will be minimal. Genma, alert every Shinobi we have in the village; Konoha is under immediate attack by a Tailed Beast. We don't have much time before it reaches the gates with an army. Start preparing the front lines. Go!" she ordered, her voice containing new power, and hope.

The female Sannin fairly flew toward a particular shelf, his slender fingers tippeting over the grimy sinew of the row of scroll bindings, some titled in the Fourth Hokage's thin handwriting.

There was now only one way to stop the Nekomata, or any Tailed Beast. It had worked with Naruto Uzumaki, and it would work again.

The power of human sacrifice.

Hungrily, Tsunade seized the correct manuscript, and threw the aged, tea colored scroll across the wobbly table she had met with her most trusted counsel at only minutes before.

Desperation rocketing her, Tsunade scanned the long, tedious requiem of hand seals to begin Yondaime's famous sealing jutsu. He had used it to seal the Nine Tailed Fox within his son only thirteen years ago.

It was a bone fide jutsu for sealing spirits within other spirits. The Kyuubi had been sealed in Uzumaki Naruto's than-just severed umbilical cord. As a medic, she knew that it didn't have to be the navel in which the creature had to be contained. She could very well slice open a person's stomach with a kunai and heal the wound with chakra to prevent the Biju from escaping-

A person.

She looked at the wall closest to her in silent question. Another Jinchuuriki. Another person for the Village to scorn. Another person to be sneered at, guffawed at, and hated.

Who could she ask to become the container for this spirit? No mother would willingly hand her child over to be implanted with a spirit so evil. No self-respecting Shinobi would think he had enough life left to even begin to glean the potential good from the monster.

There was no one she could seal the Nekomata in.

"Choose me."

Tsunade's head spun to face the near whisper of a small, apparently dazed noise.

Rian hugged herself, her legs beginning to ache from dangling from the chair she had silently seated her self in. She did not turn her gaze to the Hokage, dismissively eyeing the wall and displaying terror in her body language alone.

Almond eyes had blinked once, before the words hit her with the force of a shruiken through the heart.

Anger immediately bubbled in her cold blood. Rian was saying things she did not mean. This mere child did not understand what responsibility she would be accepting. Responsibility she could not handle.

"Oh, can it. You don't know what you're-" Tsunade scolded.

"No!"

Rian cut her off sharply, ire rising as her voice rasped with sobs. She suddenly seemed much smaller, more like the little girl she was, and not the teenager hidden behind a hiate ate.

"I lived with that thing in my brain for ten years."

Thing. Neko-Chan had become no more than a simple 'thing'.

Tsunade gasped at the confession, her mouth falling agape at her words.

Ten yea- How did- The Nibi would have had to have been sealed inside her to have- In her head?

The fragments of questions laid unanswered as Rian broke into quiet, sniffling sobs that rent the silence of the forgotten library. The brick walls seemed to break them away from the world outside, from the ground-rendering war being fought outside.

"Y-You don't know the things he made me do to myself…" Rian choked, her tone accusing.

Tsunade narrowed her eyes, noting the challenge in the accusation.

"What did he do?" she asked soothingly, trying to sound caring while carefully creeping over the thin ice between her and the emotionally stressed teenager. Each step sent her straddling the emotional dam that had been utterly obliterated by the cat, spilled pain making every step dangerous, the monsters of Rian's past reaching up like fingers of the dead beneath her feet. Reaching out, Tsunade tacticiously acted in hope of finding a possible wedge in the Nibi's defense.

At the forgotten hum of a maternal voice, Rian's last defenses shattered. Hands propping her head up on the swaying table, Rian let her reservoir of pain leak out, first in a trickle of whispered words as harsh and as low as the whistling desert sands. But after a few bleary words, the pressure made Rian's limiters of emotion burst, causing the release of ten years of horrific suffering into one long, jumbled string of words.

Seated across the table in the dingy library, Rian poured out her childhood before the Hokage. How she had met Neko-Chan. How they had had such fun together. How she had learned the forbidden art of Sanken through his diligent teachings, the scrolls filched in the night from the very library they stood in. How she had met Lee, and how everything had spiraled downward into a bloody mix of acidic chakra and weakness afterwards.

Every detail of her past, from the home surgery that had castrated her to how she had refrained eating for days at his request, until she was too weak to stand any longer. From his commands, to his bipolar moods, sometimes hot, sometimes cold. To the way he had overtaken her body and-

She broke down weeping mid-way through her explanation of what had happened to Lee.

Face to the honey-colored wood, Rian had flooded the tabletop with a waterfall of tears, breaking down like the little girl she was.

Tsunade's critical gaze had turned to one of blatant amazement when Rian finally raised her head, biting her lip with shame to be blubbering in front of the village leader. Through puffy, swollen eyes, Rian feebly pleaded a response from the steel-hard disbelief in the glance. Biting her lip and inhaling, the girl was sent into a fresh wave of tears as she remembered that Neko-Chan would be telling her not to cry- If he were here.

The older woman let Rian cry herself dry, until light-headedness naturally disintegrated Rian's tears, leaving her with only the occasional sniffle to remind the now-sleepy child of her present distress.

Tsunade looked down at Rian's tangle of hair, her eyes deep and wondering.

This child, under normal circumstances, would be classified as mentally insane. No one would believe the words the girl was killing herself to choke out in times of peace. Nobody simply had a cat named 'Neko-Chan' who lived inside their brains and taught them forbidden styles of fighting. No normal person was anorexic and underweight because an "imaginary friend" had requested them to refuse food. No sane teenage girl would willingly cut out her own feminine organs, or attempt to kill her best friend and claim that she was "overtaken by a monster".

In any day, Tsunade would have absently instructed Shizune to find the young girl a padded room, before scuffling off to her own business.

But this was not any other day. Today was a day that muttered honey sweet whispers of sunny words. Letter and numerals that, character for character, formed the fate of the greatest Shinobi nation ever before built.

It spelled the end of Konohagakure.

Tsunade willed herself to rise to her feet, ankles weaving beneath the table. She forced herself to glance once more at the child who had suffered so vastly. God, how Rian must have suffered.

To be bent to the whim and will of such a creature, a monster, plain and simple. She had listened to his outlandish requests, and not only that, but indulged the conceited conceptions of a manipulating pimp.

She had called him friend, and called him Master. She had respected him, humored the ridiculous notions that had only begun to destroy her, and even loved this monster. And now, her entire life had been usurped, the rug under her feet cruelly wrenched from under her, leaving her to stumble over the edge of the abyss called Hopelessness.

Rian had lost more than her friend. She had lost her will to live. Everything she had ever held close had been spirited from her with a bloody unsealing and an opening of Pandora's box. And now she would feel partially in the wrong for letting the beast from it's cage within her brain. Lost and alone, Rian had lost the dearest thing to her.

Tsunade understood that kind of pain.

Several moments stretched between the females, a bridge between the old and young. A bridge of understanding. Of sympathy. Of care.

At the same moment, two pairs of eyes clashed. Dark settee green against sweet caramel, exchanging knowing expressions behind the mask of their unchanging lips.

Tsunade had forgotten what it was like to love, or even care for a child. Years of watching mere children be sent to their deaths through their barely begun Shinobi occupation had nulled her from remembering what it was like to be young and engaged in a ninja's life. She hadn't known maternal love for any young child, except the first time she had met Dan's little iris flower. But, Shizune was grown, and the years when she had climbed into her uncle's lap for a good night kiss, or demanded to comb Tsunade's than natural blonde tresses seemed far away, twinkling like a distant star in a cloud-filled night sky.

The days of dark and darting chocolate eyes marinated with innocence seemed further than the moon, and onyx eyes and Dan's gentle kisses even farther away, only memories to patch the cracks in Tsunade's thoughts.

In the meeting of their eyes, Tsunade and Rian said more than their mouths could have in any situation.

Rian's tentatively curled lips gave the appearance of a grateful smirk, her puffy eyes the only sign of the inner turmoil bubbling within the small girl. Her expression seemed to be laughingly asking her if she could have the honor of saving her village. There was gratefulness, not distaste or hurt in those eyes that sparkled with childish mischievousness.

Tsunade saw more than acceptance in those green orbs. She saw a child's innocence that still thrived, in spite of the horror of a Shinobi's duty they surveyed every day.

She saw hope for an entire world's worth.

"So be it." came Tsunade's lilt, her tone shining with the smile that had stealthily found it's way across her face.

Grabbing the scroll with the Fuinjutsu engraved into it's rice paper contents, Tsunade rocketed from the room, Rian at her heels. Now it was a question of who got to the cemetery first.

Unfortunately, a surprise there awaited them.

* * *

The phantasmal energies buzzed beneath the ground crunching between four massive paws.

Neko-Chan braced himself, standing with legs parted and gazing at the splendor of what he saw before him.

Broken headstones, aged with weather-wear and woven with wilted flowers stared like the remains of a great battle before the feline. Fingers of storm clouds had begun to spread over the October sky, wispily masking the moon behind their hauntingly frightful miasmas.

Neko-Chan lifted his face to the washed indigo vastness above him. Diamond dots of stars twinkled back from the black cloth of he sky. The sky. The only thing above him, right than.

Such beauty, on such a night. The surroundings in the grave yard provoked thoughts of Halloween, ghosts lurking in the shadows of the memorial stones carved with family characters. He would smear the brilliance, like blood on white mourning clothes. It was almost sickening, to have such a frightful backdrop for his attack. It delighted him, and sated the lust for fear bubbling within him.

For he was the reincarnation of fear, and the immortal embodiment of the evil that lurked in the shadows played across gravestones on a blustery, haunted night. A supreme being in himself, far above his undead slaves that rose to but his gesturing of a tail. Neko-Chan's entertainment lay in the manipulation of the feeble minded beings he commanded, whether they were alive or dead.

He controlled humans, even when they were long buried.

Spikes of razor grass, shorn to almost their roots, crinkled beneath his toes as he wiggled them, savoring the sensation. It was wonderful to be free of the confined space of Rian's mind.

Basking in his radiating power, Neko-Chan turned once more to the subject that filled every niche in his mind. Himself.

He had never felt so grand, so powerful, or so brilliant. Shining in the light of his element, backrounded by a full yellow moon, the tree tops shaking in a chill of wind that ruffled his flaming body, sending the licks of fire reaching diagonal on their quest to the sky.

He felt strong, and beautiful, frightening, and terrifying in his power. He was free again. To roam the world outside his prison , causing as much damage to his feeble slaves as suited him.

It was time to play with his toys.

One of the fearful Neko's lax tails swished upwards, a roar of flame accenting the action. Lowering his head, Neko-Chan poured all his concentration into one, great uprising. Wrenching his eyes shut, the cat monster nearly growled with the intensity of the want curdling somewhere within his mind and flickering body. He wanted- _needed_ something to satisfy the lust, the blind desire for carnage of the severest kind. The desire for blood and the mindless taking of human life threatened to drive him insane as he stood, feet from his ticket to authority.

Konohagakure would satiate that want.

A crumbling, plittering noise began, echoing over the wide field that kept Konoha's deceased Shinobi ranks. The macabre setting would only be matched by the parade that was about to arise and dance for it's new master.

The shattering of ground was the battle cry for the greatest war Konoha would ever fight.

Skeletal hands, some missing fingers, some dripping with flesh and being feasted upon by maggots, shot from the ground simultaneously. Raised skywards, the opened palms stared like green plants of spring into their cadaverous backdrop. Neko-Chan leered at the sight.

After a few moments of arousing from their slumber, the arms seemed to creak to life, of their own accord, like gears in a massive machine.

The dirt-crusted limbs began to claw at the ground, scratching the earth for handholds from which to pull their corpses from. Ghoulish puppets of a crazed monster, they began to slowly paw their way from their graves.

The stench of death filled Neko-Chan's nostrils, making him nearly wild with excitement. In an instant, all rational thought and intelligence was wiped from Neko-Chan's thoughts, leaving him with only animalistic instinct and demonic possession to toy with, his mind broken.

"Come, my minions! Rise for your master!" he shrieked, throwing his head back in bliss. Climaxing in his power, he let out a yowl that echoed for miles, freeing the orgasm of energy pulsing through him.

The spectacle that met Konoha's forces as they marched into the bone yard was one that no Shinobi present could ever forget. In the history of Konoha's battles, this was one that would go down in their books as on of the most ghoulish, if not the most peculiar.

Before the hundreds of living flak-jacket-clad Chuunin, and the thousand of hardened faces behind porcelain Black Op masks above chests that rose and fell with breath, were inverse copies of themselves.

A massive army had risen up to face the Leaf forces. One no one on the field was prepared for the ghoulish procession breaking up from the earth. Weapons fell from hands and eyebrows raised behind masks.

In the yellowed moonlight, the ground crumbled before bodies, as open-mouthed skulls began to break from the earth. Everywhere, like insects from a rotting log, were heads, shooting up from the ground, skeletal arms clawing to pull their bodies from the graves.

Skeletons, some with half their limbs missing, others with maggots crawling from the still-rotting flesh, were literally rising from the dead. The yard was filled with the sounds of the buried uncovering themselves, breaking free from their coffins and thrashing their way to the surface. Bones cracked and clattered to rise, straining silently in the strange stillness of the night, the Nekomata flaming behind them.

Every living eye was riveted to the sight. Carcasses of dead Shinobi, some with their hiate ates still laced around their heads, weren't something you saw every day. This grisly, chilling procession made every ninja's blood run cold, if only for an instant. They stood dumbly, awaiting their call to arms. Shaking Chuunin prepared to fire shruiken at the first shout forward. Anbu drew katanas from their scabbards and flashed the swords in front of them, ready to charge at Tsunade's command.

The detached army was still wriggling up from their nesting place, ashen bones scarcely glowing in the Halloween moonset. Charging their dead now could prove futile, as the ground was the corpse's element, and there was the danger that Konoha's forces could be pulled beneath the earth, never to see the light of day again. So the Shinobi waited, counting the seconds that felt like hours until at least a front line of skeletons had arisen to mow down. The smell of death was heavy and pungent, rotten flesh dripping of some of the more-recently interned corpses. Blank, eyeless stares fixed themselves to the living Konoha nins from the orbless sockets of the skeleton's faces. Hanging jaws and bones cracked like pottery, the skeletons stood erect by the Neko's chakra, a massive uprising of, literally, the living dead.

Leaf nin, all proudly displaying their hiate ate carved with the Konoha mark lay in quiet wait for the right time to lunge forward, opposite of the undead army. Ninja of all ranks were gathered. Fresh faced Chuunin, wizened Jounin, dead-silent Anbu. Nearly every ninja in Konohagakure stood at the border of their own cemetery, swords drawn, chakra buzzing, jutsus forming, whatever they had in their arsenals prepared to be fired at whatever threatened their homes, their families, and their country.

As they stood, there was one cliché question on every nin's mind, one that would seem quite silly in any other circumstance, but was quite relevant, and even a dire need in the current skirmish Konoha was rushing to meet.

How do you kill something that's already dead?

No one had an answer.

And suddenly, the battle was upon them. The Nekomata gave a roar, and thrashed one of it's mighty tails forward, creaking the bone army to life. At the same time, Tsunade called from her place above Konoha's Shinobi army, the great Hokage leading her country to war, in a battle that would be remembered for centuries by word of mouth.

Konoha roared forward, thousands of feet rushing toward the whitewashed army of their dead comrades. Chakra buzzed, jutsus formed, shruiken flew, kunai brandished, Chidori chirped, and people screamed, flying to meet the opposing forces. An army of death rushed toward the arisen corpses with the force of a broken dam, the noise of their falling feet and screaming energies deafening.

If Neko-Chan had thought a mere army of the undead, unarmed skeletons could stop this great, catalytic rush of some of the finest Shinobi on the face of the earth-

He was right.

With a yowl, the Nibi gestured his second tail toward the approaching militia. His army obediently began marching forward, placidly awaiting the threatening band of flesh rushing toward them.

There was a heartbeat space of silence, sandal soles of those on the front line springing the last step to meet the whitened army that threatened Konoha. The wind rolled ominously, a dark gray cloud passing over the moon to blot a shadow over the first meeting of the two armies in the last, splitting seconds before the great clash began-

And than, they met.

The first skeleton was blown to pieces by the explosive crackle of baby blue chakra that was the chirping Chidori, screaming with velocity as Hatake Kakashi smashed it directly into the corpse's chest.

At that moment, the rest of the army flooded around the masked Jounin, fanning out in all directions to face the army pouring from behind the first casualty.

Splintered bones flew as chakra-driven hands slammed through the brittle keratin. Skeletons were sliced in half with katanas and swords, rib cages bouncing on the dusty earth, only to be trampled by other Shinobi locked in combat.

There was no blood. The skeletal fingers of the bone army had little or no effect on the armor-clad combatants that consisted Konoha's military force. The unarmed zombies seemed to simply thrash their arms and await being completely demolished by the nearest Leaf ninja.

Although surprised, Leaf plunged it's way forward through the growing band of their own dead. Defeating the corpses was just a bide for time, a distraction.

Watching the free entertainment below him, Neko-Chan leered at the show of nin clashing against ash white skeletons, his chakra tails roaring with flames to background the skirmish.

Let Konoha's destruction linger. First, his army would take their best ninja out, and than he would attack the weakened city. They would expend their chakras on an overkill, and be powerless to stop the conceited cat as he would roar towards their than-defenseless village. It was a perfect plan, forged of a perfect mind.

Half slitted eyes watched in self-contented praise at the entertainment before his feet, as the Neko laughed a muffled chortle of amusement.

In his grandiosity, Neko-Chan hadn't paused to think that maybe the mind he'd nurtured would have any idea as to how to stop his half-baked plan.

He hadn't thought that his discarded container would think of a way to sneak right up his back burner.

But, than again, Neko-Chan had always underestimated Rian.

"Now!" Tsunade shouted, her blond ponytail whipping as she slashed her arm in the signal for their plan to begin.

As commanded, and with a grace above her years, Rian slashed the kunai pointed at her stomach across the bare flesh of her abdomen. The knife drove deep, severing the entirety of her torso. Her navel flooded as blood began to cascade down her stomach from the deep cut. She winced in pain, snapping straight even as her body bent on reflexes.

Tsunade's hands were already zooming to complete the seals on the scroll stretched at her feet. Eyes to the rice paper instructions, the female Sannin's hands slapped seals rapidly enough that her hands were no more than flashes in front of her bowed head.

Neko-Chan noticed the noises behind him the slightest second too late, turning his head only at the first tug on his chakra body. It proved to be his fatal mistake.

On the very cliff he had forced Rian from, stood the child he had used for his own personal gain. And the Godaime Hokage of his destiny.

Rian braced her feet on the ground, the world spinning as she fought to keep her stance. Tsunade's hands hit the last seal of the Fuinjutsu, just as Neko-Chan recognized the seal.

His fanged mouth slid open in an expression the mixture of shock and the realization of his fate.

Rian's eyes slanted shut in triumph as Tsunade placed her hands over the teen's gashed stomach. The jutsu began to come alive, creating a swirling trap over the bleeding kunai rip in the nearly white of Rian's skin.

In a roar of wind, Neko-Chan's flaming body was being vacuumed backward, a swirling vortex forming of his magenta chakra as it began to siphon to the summoned place, below Tsunade's blood-traced palms.

The sealing skill formed a deep, pulling suction that began to vacuum Neko-Chan's body of pure energy into the severed skin, dragging his anchorless body backwards and into Rian's body to be sealed within it.

Rian's gaze held, until Neko-Chan's energies hit the fragile structure of her body. Her knees buckled, but she managed to grimace from the pain, and set her chin at the torn expression on the mocha-colored face she had known and loved once upon a time.

Tsunade was sealing the Nekomata within Rian's body, much as the Yondaime had done with Uzumaki Naruto. The only difference was that Rian's adolescent body required a fresh slash, one that had to be sealed at once after the Neko was completely within her.

Her hands positioned over Rian's bared stomach, Tsunade clenched her expression and began to force every fiber of herself into sealing the wild energy within the confines of the small girl positioned at her side.

Neko-Chan's eyes flew to Rian's. The expression in them was one Rian had never known in the cat's arsenal of looks. But, the glint in his flickering, dark yellow eyes signaled the one expression she had wanted to see for so long that it hurt to finally view it in those proud eyes.

Defeat.

They shared a glance, Neko-Chan's fiery yellow against Rian's olive orbs. Their meeting of eyes spoke all they needed to say, or maybe it was just that they knew each other so well that words didn't need to be used.

Less than a second, a lifetime. Things were broken.

Ashes, ashes-

Neko-Chan's feet left the ground, becoming a swirling smoke as he was pulled into the body which would contain him.

We all-

Yellow and green clashed, beseeching against Rian's mimic of Neko-Chan's hardened stare. Sarcasm, not hate, was present in the human eyes beginning to slant with the presence of the Nekomata that was already filling the small form, threatening to burst her already swelling chakra veins.

Fall-

In the next second, Neko-Chan's face spiraled into the black hole, his body completely sealed. There was no possible escape for him now. Even he knew that. His last gaze, as it melted away before the Hokage's eyes begged for mercy. His final plead of expression swirled into Rian's abdomen, forever contained beneath the skin of her stomach, to circulate in her energy coils at her whim.

-Down.

Rian's knees buckled as the head of Neko-Chan's energies siphoned into her, the air around her and the medic nin drained of nearly all of her chakra crackling with energy from the seal.

Tsunade grappled over Rian's stomach just as the energy orgasmed, whipping painfully within her Keirukuki. The familiar glow of healing, pea colored chakra formed on Tsunade's hand, for she was a medic, and a medic did their duty until their last breath left them.

Holding her shaking wrist above the slice, Tsunade summoned her last bit of energy to the wound in the first medical jutsu taught at a medic's course.

Healing chakra branched gently to the severed abdomen, the one so recently sewn back together from being utterly destroyed by Kimimaro's Dance Of The Fern Seedlings. In what of her mind still racing with doctoral concerns, Tsunade grew mildly concerned that Rian's prior injuries could handle the strain of the sealing itself.

The Nekomata had planned it just so.

He had also always underestimated Rian.

Tsunade fell to the ground on her face, the shred of chakra she still had only keeping her dangling over the jaws of death. Sweet ground rushed to meet her nostrils, and in seconds she was unconscious, a step over her and a plunge down the cliff the battle against Konoha's corpse force raging on.

Rian grimaced, her head bobbing as the feeling of the familiar chakra fully beginning to circulate within her only started to ravage the remainder of her conscious mind.

Her eyes drifted close, as the sudden urge to sleep raped her body. Her body was working overtime trying to begin organizing her new chakra system. The crawling sensation of a tattoo began to unfold on her abdomen, a black, runny paw print framed by cloud shaped marks in a circle displaying that she was now the Jinchuuriki of the Nibi No Nekomata.

The title made it sound much more prestigious than it was, and would be.

The journey of a thousand miles began with one step.

Rian's first step was than, unconsciousness beginning to drape over her as she tilted backwards, Tsunade's figure stretched on the cliff's climax before her.

And than, almost as she delusionally knew he would, a flash of green zipped toward her, snatching her just as she bowed low to the terrain that arched in front of her down to a battle zone, her head snapping to touch the ground.

She fell unconscious staring at the face of the one she loved the most in the world, her hips thundering after her as her front bent into the waiting cradle of his arms.

She landed against a muscled chest, her head pillowed against his collar as she fell limp and malleable into his grip, which held her tight enough to allow no whispers of doubt into his hold.

Lee only got to clasp her to him for a few moments, before a circle of Anbu brusquely shoved him away.

**A/N: Suggest a title for the next saga in your review, or no sequel! **


	15. My September Sky 'Final Chapter'

**Author's Note: Darn. I can hardly believe this is the last chapter of **_Neko-Chan_

**I sat in front of my laptop last night for about 20 minutes, just staring at the last page. The last words. I kept saying, "It's over". It's unbelieveable, isn't it?**

**What I think is more unelieveable is the outpouring of fans this story has gotten. 109 reviews, all full of praise for my work. That's just.. wow. I just want to say thank you to everyone who has reviewed, Story Alerted, Favorited, and even read **_Neko-Chan_**You've kept this story alive, and now it's gonna go down in a blaze of glory, because of your words and reviews. You made this story what it is by boosting my ego and staying with me through the ruts and plot twists, the cliffhangers and blocks. I sometimes thought about just scrapping this, or even abandoning it, but you all kept me to it, made me work to make it so that my readers could love and understand it. _You _made the difference with **_Neko-Chan_**. Even when the first chapters were screwed up, you stayed on it until things got good. That, my readers, is what I call... I don't even know what to call it. But, thank you. One and all. Especially to the readers who haven't had a chapter dedicated to them, like _The Funky Platypus, Mynce, Bunny The Assassin, _and so many more that I can't recall. But, they know who they are, even if I have short-term memory loss. Thank you so much, everyone.**

**I fear I can only express my gratitude by creating a sequel.**

**The generous suggestions for the sequel's title were all carefully considered, chewed, spit out, dragged through the mud by my dogs, and had sleep lost over them, but I'm gonna have to go with the original name I had, even when the sequel was only going to be a 20 facts.**

**_On The Way Down_, the multiple chapter sequel to**_ Neko-Chan_**, will be ready for public viewing in a few days. The first chapter is written, and **_Neko-Chan _**taught the importance of having a chapter ready before you post one. In truth, I've learned a lot from **_Neko-Chan_**, and I hope **_On The Way Down_** will bring you as much joy as Rian, Lee, and Neko-Chan already have.**

**This chapter is dedicated to all of my reviewers, and silent readers. Of all the people who got joy from this story, being the person to give it to you gave me the most joy.**

Despite the pictured grandeur the Nekomata had lusted for, Konoha retained minimal damage to it's buildings or people.

Only four casualties were accounted from the camisado of the Nibi, two from the skeleton army, and two from using every hair of chakra within them to heal the Godaime and the fallen form of Rian, once they had been able to reach them.

Tsunade had survived, the scrap of chakra she had remaining holding her over until the medics had reached her and performed a life saving chakra transfer to restore the woman's level to a functioning maximum.

She had been released from her own Hospital the very next day, a little crankier and a little more disapproving of her job, but grateful to be living and full of complaints about hospital food.

She had, however, realized her inadequacy to fill the job she was given, and had promptly swaggered to the Hokage Tower and, over much complaining and reasoning, resigned from the office she had held.

Konoha did not remain Kageless for long, though, for the very next day, Rokudaime Hokage Hatake Kakashi was inaugurated to the title before the entire Village, who had crowded before the Tower to witness the son of the White Fang Of Konoha become their much-respected, and much-appreciated , Kage.

Tsunade's likeness began being formed onto the face of Konoha's Mount Rushmore a few days after the service, accompanied by a masked expression framed by spikes of hair being carved into stone beside it. Kakashi refused to remove his mask, even when it was hidden by the long curtain of the Hokage sunhat, so it was natural that his face should appear in stone with it on, to be seen for generations after.

Gai was healing quite well in the hospital, being snuck contraband canisters of his favorite flavor of ramen by "Kage's orders.". It seemed Kakashi had enough heart to care for his 'Eternal Rival', who pointed to the robed man on one visit and demanded a test of his Shinobi skills once Gai was back on his feet.

Konoha had become a pleasant, cheery, sun-filled Village of prosperity again, the sun crazy with promise as it shone down on the people who seemed content to be alive and thriving once more.

Children ran through the streets, playing and screaming. Senseis taught their students in the fields bordering Konohagakure, and missions continued undaunted by the false alarm that had frightened them, if nothing more.

The only change for the worst was their attitude.

The Kyuubi's attack, which had destroyed nearly the entire village thirteen years ago, had left some malingering effects, even if people wouldn't admit it.

Barely masked by cheer-filled smiles and getting back to life after that attack, the obvious distaste for Naruto had festered, and to this day not many would even glance at the Uzumaki child with anything but hate in their expressions.

But, time did many jobs that nothing else could do on their own. It made people grow older and wiser. It wiped away understanding as easily as it wiped away tears. Time, the destroyer of all emotions, had built a layer of forgetfulness over most people's remembrance of the Nine Tail's attack, and the terrifying damage it had created. People had grown numb to what had occurred, and had been facing a bright future with the dislike for the animal drifting unsuspectingly into the backs of the minds to be replaced with more important matters.

Until Nibi had attacked.

As a bandage torn from burned skin, the forgotten fear of the Tailed Beasts had returned full swing. People suddenly remembered the terror they had felt, the people they had lost, and the new hate coupled with their old fears to create a monster even more horrifying than any Biju could be.

People had only felt mildly threatened by the Jinchuuriki known as Naruto. But with old fears remembered, Rian had taken his place in their distress.

It wasn't a matter of which creature had caused more destruction. The Nekomata had simply opened healed scars, and Rian was now the object of which all Konohagakure could vent their terror.

What people don't understand, they fear. And when people are afraid, like animals, they lash out.

And that was why Rian woke with dread on her first day as a Jinchuuriki.

She had pulled herself from bed, and for once in years discarded all of her clothes to take a shower.

Neko-Chan had made her feel disgusted of her human body, and she had never wished to look at it more than she absolutely needed to. She had always cleaned herself in her clothes.

But today, she stood bare, scalding water cascading over her skin, her eyes locked to the tattoo marring just below her navel.

She intently studied the paw mark below her navel, but could not bring herself to trace the circular cloud marks that circled the seal.

She stood in unshown wonder of her body, as though she had never seen it before.

She barely believed her thin legs, and the jutting ribs at her side that she could trace, fingering the deep trenches between the bones. Her arms were sinewy with muscle, as were many ninja's, but they were so thin- Rian wondered at how they didn't snap like brittle twigs with the repetitive flexes she did, watching the tendon that connected her fingers go tight beneath the skin of her hand.

Her eyes followed up her stomach, past the ugly tattoo and the purpled scar of her impalation. She gazed directly down, chin to her collarbone, and wondered what her chest would look like with the swell of breasts that every girl she had ever seen seemed to possess. She almost wished she had them. Anything to fit in, for she was an outcast, now. She would have traded anything to look like the normal kunoichi that seemed to hang off of Uchiha Sasuke, just to be counted by the village as the normal teenage girl she was, instead of the hideous, ugly container of a monster that she was.

When she could stand it no more, she had pulled her clothes on and strode from the shower, soaking wet and dripping on the bathroom floor where she had once hurled one of her feminine organs, before wrapping her uterus in a single garbage bag and tossing it into the trash as though it were no more than a used napkin or tissue.

She hadn't had the heart to even give the mirror a look, before she closed the front door behind her and walked down the hall of the apartment building she lived in to jeers and catcalls.

She knew she was ugly, and she felt it with every fiber of her being.

She didn't know where to go. Unloved, she had walked down the Market street, only to be chased from the road by people hurling fruit and sharp bits of debris after her as she fled the rain of objects. People dangled from windows, just to get a chance to hurl a flowerpot, in hopes that it would strike the Nibi and harm him some of the damage Kyuubi had done.

People were afraid, and Rian was the target of their blind rage.

Wiping her eyes of the tears that wanted to come, Rian tucked her hands into her pants and continued striding down the boulevard of broken dreams, listening to people scream obscenities at her back.

The path she strolled down, eyes to the ground and hands tucked in her pant pockets, led to the front gates of the Village. But, Rian knew she wasn't welcome even outside the gates.

Rian had no village now. She had no one to love, and she had no one to call friend.

Her only friend was sealed, deep within her.

And the other hated her.

Rian had known that Lee had survived Neko-Chan's attack when he had first used her body as a puppet. Even when Neko-Chan had slit his throat, stabbed what flesh peaked through, strangled him, and turned to deliver a fireball to his mangled body, the teen had survived.

Rian had been told by a nurse the day the new Jinchuuriki had been discharged from the night she spent in the Hospital "for observation" that the boy who the Neko had attacked first was healed and being discharged even as they spoke. Rian had hardly escaped from her room before Lee appeared at her room's door, a bouquet of carnations Gai had gotten for him clutched in one bandaged hand. A gesture of friendship, perhaps, but it had gone unnoticed. Rian had strode out the door to the front of the hospital just as he rounded the corner to the wing she had been situated on.

For all she knew, a boy named Rock Lee hated her as much as the Villagers did.

Even if she still loved him.

In Neko-Chan's immature way of thinking, Rian followed the advice that the cat had given her for years: _Let it go_. She repressed how much she wanted Lee, reminding herself that her teammate probably hated her, and it would be in everyone's best interest for her to leave him alone. She would never even speak to him again.

The shredded remains of what Rian identified as her humanity objected to that.

Rian's feelings were swirling like smoke, to be truthful. She wasn't sure whether to be sad at the loss of Lee, or to have expected it. She didn't even flatter herself by supposing her teammate to still feel anything for her, or even give her the time of day. She was a monster, now. The tainted container of an evil creature.

Nobody loved a monster.

Gai no longer cared for her. He had called off training without informing her. She knew. She had walked past her team's training ground in the small tendril of hope that maybe Gai would welcome her back under his wing with open arms. The long shot, as expected, came up short.

Perhaps he was giving her a few days to adjust to her new girth, but his cancelling of his team's daily training was interpreted as hostile preconception by Rian.

If Gai couldn't love her, than nobody could.

All her system boards for hoping shutting down, Rian had wandered unwanted and unloved, unrecognized even with scarlet letters painted all on her.

She was just Konoha's skeleton in the closet.

Rian was a reminder of what the village wanted to forget. Kyuubi, the Nibi, she was no more than a bundle of fear and hate. The object of a frightened village. A punching bag for a terror-stricken population.

And there was the rest of her life to live it.

Wading in shock, Rian waited for realization to slam her as she walked circles around the village, following the paths Gai had worn holes in on his tireless laps years ago.

Rian had followed the rut in the dirt path, hoping it would lead her to a stark conclusion as she regretted becoming the Jinchuuriki of the Nekomata.

She was hated, friendless, disheartened, ugly, and unloved.

And betrayed.

Rian spotted his chakra signature a mile away, and yet she was still surprised when she froze in the middle of the path, and looked up at a familiar, eyebrow-endowed face.

Lee's expression was that of concern, his lips pinched with nervousness at the sighting of his teammate as she gazed up with crystalline olive eyes. Her hiate ate lay on her bedside table at home, her bangs let to a breeze that sashayed by as onyx collided with green.

Rian suddenly leapt back, looking away guiltily and reaching to hold her left arm in her right hand. She scolded herself for even meeting eyes with her team member. He was above her now, after all.

"Good morning, Lee-San." she whispered, her voice nearly pulled away by the wind. Eyes averted, she regretted even addressing him. He would surely strike or reprimand her, or even worse. Ignore her.

A few sharp words would be better than none at all.

Saying nothing would display his indifference to her very existence. His wrath would be preferable to not being acknowledged.

"Going to see Sakura-San?" she added, even quieter than her original, shy sentence. Face tilted downward in respect, Rian simply stared at the worn path beneath their feet, waiting for Lee's reaction.

She heard a shiver escape from Lee's mouth, and felt his body shudder as he stood before her. She could only imagine his chest trembling as she lay against it. But, the world where Lee held her as if she would fall apart in his arms, and kissed her as though she were made of glass only existed in her dreams, now. In the world that reeked of fantasy known as her memories was where the shuddering feeling of his body against hers existed. And she would never lose herself in a passionate meeting of lips in the world she existed in.

Lee hated her. She was convinced, even before he parted his lips.

His mouth opened slightly, enough for words to escape, or for a tongue to slip through, A breath was sucked into his lungs, and Rian wished his mouth would form throaty lullabies of love. She had nothing left, so why should she not dip her fingers into the realm of those forbidden, yearning desires? Why should she not make herself a fool before the boy she loved? Oh, the coppery tang of forbidden emotions.

Rian felt sugar sweet words forming on her tongue, but she could not bring herself to voice them. It seemed as if Lee was going to say something, anyway-

"Why would I do that?"

Lee shattered Rian's heart into pieces. She had to explain it, too? Of all the physical and emotional tortures Neko-Chan had put her through, none could compare to Lee's desire for her to even speak those words out loud.

But, as he demanded, Rian obeyed like a beaten animal, clenching her eyes shut as the bridled words were guided from her mouth.

"Because, you love her, and she's beautiful, and not a monster?"

The words that had been plaguing her unhackneyed, Rian clenched her eyes tighter, waiting for him to admonish her and walk out of her life forever.

The pain of his leaving increased every second he continued to refrain from speaking. She just wished he would speak, say aloud how he despised her, and leave her in her shame of being a monster.

Unfortunately, Lee's next words proceeded to draw out the long, suspenseful wait, increasing the weight weighing on her shoulders as she stood.

"I see all those things right here."

Rian looked up in amazement, confused by the words from the taut half-smile across Lee's face.

A gust of wind sent leaves swirling gently in the background behind them, adding a touch of dramatic emotion into the scene the two were creating. Neither of them noticed, though. Too busy were they gazing into each other's faces.

As though he had practiced the words slipping from his lips a thousand times, Lee offered his palms in question, wondering why Rian was acting so strange.

Staring at her, he saw only the same Rian that had given him the headband tied around his waist, the same Rian who had held him when he had woken from his injury-induced stupor after his fight with Gaara, and the same Rian who had given herself for the safety of her Village.

He saw the large, olive-colored eyes that had seen his inmost being, the bird-thin waist he had wrapped in his arms, and saw the chocolate flavored lips that he wanted so badly to taste again.

He saw the Rian that he loved more than everything he knew.

"I see a beautiful, non-monster that I love right here."

Breath hitched in Rian's throat. Could he really be using these terms to describe her? A bubble of hope formed in her, before being popped almost immediately.

Even if he was using those terms about her, they weren't true.

She was a monster, and he was too good for her.

That was the story of Rian and Lee.

Lee saw her eyes drift away, and he trembled with the lust to simply grab her and hold her to him.

It nearly made her cry, but Rian hunched her shoulders in disagreement, and denied them both the human right to love.

"You don't love me."

Rian knew if she glanced up at Lee, her resistance would crumble. But, it was true. There was a huge, personal reason that Lee could never love her. It was the same with Neko-Chan.

Clenching her fists behind her back, Rian felt herself about to explode from the bottled emotion waiting to be expelled. Why, Oh, why couldn't Lee simply see the light-

"You're right, Rian. I don't love you much, do I?"

Rian turned to look at his face, horror painting her wide eyes and open mouth. She hadn't known the words would be so, so blunt.

Lee had tilted his head back languidly to look up at the sky above them. He opened his mouth again, and the perfect words slipped from between his lips once more.

"Just more than all the stars in the sky."

Rian stared at him as if he were insane as he continued to look up, his bruised and scratched neck bared to her as he looked upward, into space.

Lee suddenly tilted his head back to stare at her, a peace filled smile making even his eyes grin.

"See how it sparkles in my eyes?" he asked. Rian didn't dare hope that it was love that glimmered in the blackness of his large, smiling orbs.

"I couldn't hide it if I tried." he continued, watching for her reaction to the words he had never thought himself capable of speaking.

"No, Rian. I don't love you much, do I?"

Rian took in a sharp breath, before childishly looking away, attempting to catch her breath. The words. Such words, he said. Oh, could Lee mean those-

"Lee, you don't love me. There's a reason that you can't." she stated before she could think about his words any more.

Lee's raised eyebrows prompted her to explain this reasoning further.

Rian dared not look at him, as she continued to try and frame the words he had nearly shattered her defense with to keep with her.

"Lee-" she stated, turning to him boldly.

Her eyes desperately pleading, Rian begged him to simply hear the truth, before he tore her apart. Those sugary words, the silvery lies, made her want to absolutely melt with bliss, but the more he said, the more it hurt her to acknowledge the truth.

Her eyes flew to the bruises that Neko-Chan had marred onto his neck and the twin scars from her teeth barely poking through where his loose shirt had slid down to reveal where she had bitten him awake in their first Chuunin exam as a team.

She had hurt him so much- He couldn't love her. It was just not possible. And, besides-

"Neko-Chan hurt me. I used to love him so much, Lee. He was my best friend. But than, he hurt me. He betrayed me, and hurt me so much. And now, I hate him."

She lowered her eyelids, before her hand gently combed where the purple bruises had formed from the harsh pressure of her fingers only a mere day ago.

"And Lee, I hurt you, so much." continued Rian, as she unconsciously fondled his neck with the tips of her fingers, making Lee shudder again under the haunting touch that pervaded his dreams at night.

"You, could never love someone who hurt you so much." she claimed, wanting to deny it so badly it hurt.

It was true. Lee could never love her. She hated Neko-Chan for hurting her, and Lee had to hate her for hurting him. It was simple. Instinct behavior.

And one thing Neko-Chan had taught her was, listen to your instincts.

Suddenly, Rian's wrist was caught in a vice so strong that she thought the bone in her wrist would break.

Horrified, she gazed up at Lee.

What met her eyes made her gasp.

Lee tightened the grip on her wrist as Rian looked into his eyes. They were hollow and lost, filled with a single need, a want, a desire so consuming that Rian could see it in in the flat ebony that was staring deadly at her, into her, through her. Into her inmost scars, at her deepest feelings.

He couldn't express in words the emotion he was feeling. Was there any possible thing he could do to cure this? What could he do to tell Rian how much he loved her? To explain to her how much he wanted her simple attentions, just for her to acknowledge his emotion for her, the feelings that had bloomed between them.

How could he even express in words how much he loved her?

His voice crackled, crunching like rocks, as he broke their tedious teeter totter of feelings that they wouldn't or couldn't make known to the other.

"But, I do."

Rian pulled back the slightest bit, but Lee wouldn't even allow it. He yanked her forward five times as close as she had pulled away. He was sliding into madness. She head, had to listen! He had to say it! He would! He would say it, or he would just blow up.

"But, I do!" he rasped, his tone desperate.

And right in front of the girl he loved, Rock Lee started to cry.

Tears pooled, flooding the reservoir when he blinked, making a trail of saccharine madness flow in a waterfall down his face, one tear joined by a second, and than a third, and so many more that he lost count.

Sobs constricting his throat, Lee sniffled and choked as he held Rian's wrist sandwiched between his fingers, drawing the composure to keep himself from looking like a doofus in front of the object of his affection.

Rian looked at him as she always proceeded to. Was that concern that marred her fine expression? Was that a speck of nothing but sweet perfection in her eyes? Lee wasn't sure what to think. Where was his heart and his mind? Who was this girl who had stolen them both away?

Almost crying herself, Rian was unprepared when Lee spoke the sweetest words she had ever heard, tears trembling on his eyelashes as his words came as mere whispers, only audible to them in their special moment, together on a dirt road somewhere on the outskirts of the greatest ninja village in the world.

"But, Rian, I do. So much."

Her body trembling with a razor intake, Rian had tried to see through his eyes what he could possibly mean. Hadn't they gone over these endearing sentiments how-many-times already? How many rose-petal words and filigree emotions did they have to come within millimeters of destroying? Why were they torturing themselves by not speaking? By throwing each other cow eyed glances, what were they accomplishing?

Why were they so crazy in love, that they couldn't just speak the words that needed to be said?

"Why?" Rian asked. Surely Lee could love her, but could he love the creature inside her.

We are all fools in love.

A summery moment of silence stretched between them, just as the first moment of stepping off of a building, where you seem to levitate for a few moments, floating above the world as it continues it's choreographed sashay to the beat of it's drum-

Just before gravity jerks down.

Rian's gravity came in the form of being pulled to a chest that she knew and being held in the arms she belonged in. She stumbled against him, her hands bracing against his collarbone until the anchor of the spinning world was enough to keep her up, leaning against his solid body.

Losing herself for the slightest time, Rian thought that maybe she could slip away in his grasp. Maybe they could both escape to a world where Nibi's and inabilties to use chakra did not have an effect. Just a world where they were a normal boy and girl, and not even Shinobi. Two simple kids, in a world where peace reined, and people lived in silent respect of one another. There would be no beasts that required to be sealed, no training fields littered with Lee's bandages as they became saturated with blood, no lofty glances from Neji, and no one to throw garbage at Rian because she had saved her Village by destroying a monster that had threatened them all.

Only Lee, and the comforting circle of his arms. Salty kisses, and arms around her back that protected her from whatever danger that threatened her from behind.

Such a world would suit Rian just fine.

She didn't need to remind herself it didn't exist.

But, she couldn't really think of the world she wanted any more. She couldn't really think of much, right than, for two sable eyes commanded her every thought. Her eyes seemed glued to his face, her gaze paralyzed to him by the sheer power of the energy more prevalent than chakra, more flaming than the aura of determination that surrounded him, and stronger than that bonfire of hope carried inside of him.

The raw power of the love in his eyes.

"Rian." his parted lips beseeched, coating the words in a toxin that petrified her from even taking a breath, lest it shatter the fragile spring moment into an irreplaceable mound of glass.

"I love you, because you're everything I've ever needed. You care about me genuinely. Nobody has ever cared about me as much as you do. And, and you're strong, and brave, and you never back down in the face of danger- You're a great Shinobi, you admire my beliefs, you don't act like I'm invisible or embarrassing to even be around- Sakura hates me, Rian! She thinks I'm this annoying- And, you, you're not like that at all. You, you showed how much you cared about me. I don't care if it takes me years to prove how much I care about you. I will do it. I'll protect you with my life, and something more!"

His sentences firing like machine guns behind her eyes, Rian couldn't stop the opaque droplets forming on her eyelashes. Such, could Lee really mean those words? Did he love her that much- Was anybody capable of loving her, a monster that much-

Her thoughts became scattered as his hand ghosted up her right cheek, two fingers softly drifting toward the unkempt strands of loose whisps that had escaped being tucked behind her ears. Phantom pains began to climax as she felt Lee comb the mussed, curling tress behind her ear. He was calming his own nervousness.

His next words quieted what fears she might have.

"And you are not a monster. You went beyond the call of ninja duty with what you did. You saved the entire village, something few Shinobi will ever have the ability to lay claim to. You aren't a monster, for containing this animal. You're a hero for being brave enough to step to this level to do your duty. I'm heartily ashamed that my own village could be so blind and treat you the way they do. But, they will see, Rian. It may be years, but they will acknowledge you as the wonderful Shinobi that you are. Until than, though-"

Rian lost all rational thought at that point. His touch alone was enough to evoke the underbelly of instinct, to close her away from whatever was not connected to bandaged fingers and eyes the color of the dark side of the moon.

"- I will never leave your side. I will be there to protect you, and give you my heart every day. These words are my new nindo, and I will never go back on them. … Because, I love you more than life."

She didn't understand a lot about this new feeling called love, but she was more than ready to slog through the swamp of conflicting emotions, as long as Lee was at her side.

Rian gave herself, and she had just one rational thought from that second on.

"I love you, Lee." she whimpered, before throwing her arms around his neck and hiding herself away within the gentle sweep of his collarbone.

Lee tensed for an instant, before his body relaxed, and the only thing he could do was to hold Rian and try not to yell with utter joy.

She loved him. Weeks of doubt, suffering, pain, and caring had all come down to the words he had waited for Rian to say since he had first realized how she had become his best friend, and something more.

"So much." she whispered, trying to make up for the times she had resisted her feelings in one embrace. She would never let go if she had the choice. She loved Lee with everything in her. With every footstep and every heartbeat. Every tear she cried and every intake of breath until her final ones.

Neko-Chan had been wrong. She didn't feel weak. Instead, Rian felt stronger than she had ever felt in her whole life. There was a new emotion circulating in her, and it would only strengthen and mellow as the years rolled by. It would never die, not even if she herself did. And lines of lightning, as thin and as strong as spider-webs knit their hearts together, even as they beat side by side at that moment.

Rian had discovered true love.

Lee swallowed the lump that had been conceived in his throat, before his one hand cupped the wispy head of dirty brown hair, tipping her head enough for him to rest his chin on her cranium.

"Well, I think I'm going to cry again!" Lee blubbered, his tone laughing as he tried to create a less awkward view of the situation. He was so confused, but, he was so happy-

He didn't know what he was feeling, and that terrified him.

But there was something broiling deep inside of his heart that created a new bravery that was more brilliant than a flame on a foggy night, or a lighthouse on the shoes of a stormy ocean.

That bravery was the courage to love. And that flame burned in two hearts that had found each other.

And suddenly, they were laughing. They both broke into giggles and chuckles, and snickers and chortles, and hooting and sniggering and Kami knows what else.

Crystalline laughter of childhood and the new-found joy of realizing what love was just made you want to turn a little faster, for you knew the world would follow after, because there was only you, and the person who was closer in your heart than anybody else on the sugar-sweet, meltin' under blue skies, shimmering planet.

And soon they were pushing each other playfully, and flopping limply against each other for supported as they huffed with throaty giggles and coughed with the inability to contain all the joy inside of them.

And than Lee started doing some awkward little happy dance, jumping all around and trying to expel all of the built up tension. Fists above his head, the raven haired teen cried out in happiness, an insane combination of shouting his happiness and laughing still. He could jump a little higher, and maybe reach for those stars like he had when he was a young boy ; come on, come on, and the world was a little brighter

With laughing and carrying on, they were unleashing the ecstasy in the face of their daunting futures.

It didn't matter what could happen along the road. There would always be a shoulder to use as a cane, and a neck to hollow out a place to hide sorrow, and a pair of lips to claim- There was so much joy and promise, Rian and Lee couldn't keep it inside.

With a screech, either born of being frightened or a shrill laugh, Rian felt gravity tug her down the embankment to their right. She had lost her footing on the rim of the tender embankment, and was falling on her back, her hand still gripping Lee's. Lee's eyes popped wide as the hold wrenched around Rian's fingers dragged him towards the edge of the placid embankment.

With shrieks of they-didn't-know-what, they both went tumbling, head over heels, one over the other, down the brown grass of the Fall-summoned magic. Crunching through piles of leaves as they rolled and twisted, inhaling the wonderful smell of Autumn, rolling on their sides like runaway logs, occasionally running into each other and connecting for a few seconds, only to be torn apart for a longer time. But, there was that feeling that eventually they would hit each other again, and screeches of cinnamony joy kept them from losing each other.

Eventually, the hill crested, just as two young hands clasped each others, and a solemn Autumn tinge filled Rian's shining olive eyes.

Rolling onto their backs in the crunching grass, they lay sprawled on leaves that had twirled a butterfly dance towards the soil that was smudged across their cheeks and arms. Panting and huffs were sucked away by the cool air as they tried to breathe in the Indian summer of an orange sky.

Lee had scooted to Rian's side, and was spread eagle on his back, the grass poking and teasing at his bandaged hands, and the tender pink tinge of his cheeks as he tried to somehow refrain from laughing.

It was than he noticed Rian's side profile. She was solemnly staring at the Indian sky, tornados of leaves being whirled across the field of amber around them. Her lower lip was jutted out, her olive eyes locked in concentration to the tawny sky that seemed to have rained the color of dried blood.

Expression turning to one of confusion and worry, Lee pushed himself to a sitting position and patted his hands into the Harvest-scented grass that crinkled with his movement.

He crouched so that he was glancing directly into her face, trying to spot exactly what made those olive-colored eyes frown with innocent concern.

"What?" he asked, his tone becoming stony and worried at the depth of the concern on the quiet neko-child's countenance. Her face was more perfect than he remembered them, was his first thought as he tried to read the expression that lay beneath him. Leaves and grass flecks had become knotted into her short brown hair, and Lee could only imagine what he looked like. Strangely, Rian never looked more beautiful than when she was free and looking wild, he thought.

Rian gave him an anxious glance, before she turned her attention to a face that sheltered her from the element of the Equinox above them.

Encased in their paprika-scented moment, a chilly Autumn sky reaching, the world a little brighter with the nutmeg colors of an Indian Summer, Rian asked a question that she already had an answer for.

"Love me forever?"

Lee's face turned grave for a moment, but in that moment truth was revealed.

And very gently, as though she were as precious as the fleeting Summers of youth, Lee bent down and kissed her the answer.

And their lips met in an innocent expression of their undying affection for each other, Rian remembered what she had been searching for when Neko-Chan had discovered her sitting on a log in the woods. It wasn't Neko-Chan's knowledge or to be a splendid ninja.

It was love.

**A/N: ... I CAN'T BELIEVE IT'S OVER.. **

**Thanks for reading, everybody. And remember to Author Alert so that when the sequel is posted, you can be the first to read it.**

**I love every single one of you,(in a totally writer-to-reviewer kinda way) and your compliments, help, suggestion, and comments will live on in me forever.**

**Thanks for reading, and God bless.**


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